Apocalypse
June 14th, 2026 “Apocalypse” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Summer Sermon Series: You Pick – I Preach!
Revelation 20:1-21:8
This morning we continue our summer sermon series, “You Pick – I Preach!” where you select topics of interest to you and then I attempt to craft a sermon based on your questions and ideas. This morning we are talking apocalypse which is a real doozey!
Apocalypse is a sort of catch-all term. Just speaking the word probably draws images to your mind of “The Late Great Planet Earth” Hal Lindsey’s best-selling book from the 70s. That’s where all the ideas modern Christians have about the rapture come from. Or, if you’re closer to my age, then perhaps apocalypse brings to mind the Tim LaHaye series “Left Behind” where so called Biblical ideas of the end times were expanded into an exciting series featuring our hero, Rayford Steele.
In our modern times apocalypse actually has developed two definitions. Its original use is the ancient understanding of the Greek word apokalypsis (ἀποκάλυψις) which means “to uncover” or “to reveal”. This is a literary category involving the revelation of secret knowledge. The Biblical book of Daniel falls into this realm, as well as some of Jesus’ speeches, and of course the book of Revelation.
In our modern day and age apocalypse has come to mean basically the end of the world. This is about global disaster, the collapse of civilization, nuclear war, etc. There is a whole genre of movies and novels exploring the themes of human existence after or during the apocalypse that has nothing to do with religion or secret revelations. Think Walking Dead, Mad Max, The Road, or the novel I just finished, Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.
The text I chose for today is an extended reading from the most famous Biblical apocalypse, “Revelation.” Scholars think that this book was composed during the reign of the emperor Domitian around 85CE not by the apostle John, but by a Palestinian Jewish Christian who fled Jerusalem during the Jewish revolts around 70CE. The book details the people’s struggles against the Roman empire, referred to as Babylon, and their hope for a future, where God punishes their enemies and offers them peace on earth.
While centuries of readers have tried to “decode” the text, this book is not literal and it’s not logical. It can’t be an apocalypse and be those things. Revelation is mysterious on purpose, as it is a view of God’s thoughts and ideas, and so you can’t really point to things here and then point to things in our world and find a correlation. The author doesn’t intend for it to work like that, and they don’t even try to make it fit in with itself.
Throughout history, people have interpreted this book within their own historical context, as they do with all parts of the Bible. The original context of the book is the early Jewish Christian struggle to survive within the Roman empire. We see that in all the references to Babylon as Rome and the lifting up of the martyrs and those who have died for their faith.
As time moves on, others put their own spin on the text. For the early Reformers, the book of Revelation was about the struggle between the true church of the Reformation, and the Catholic Church. Suddenly Babylon becomes the Catholic Church and the Pope becomes the antichrist.
In the modern era this tradition has continued. Whenever we are at war, we find parallels to the book of Revelation and of course we are always the good guys. People often see images of nuclear war in this book and modern political struggles especially in the middle east. We have always felt like this book was reveling secrets to us and that we are living in the “end times”.
I remember one Sunday in my first church sitting in my office and listening to the adult Sunday school class going on in the next room over. I wasn’t allowed to teach Sunday school there, which gives you an idea of what they thought of me as their pastor. For an hour the folks were treated to a lecture about how China was Babylon and they were coming to take over the US, all drawn from the book of Revelation. I would have said that the United States is probably Babylon and so I can understand why they didn’t want me in the classroom.
Revelation is a dangerous book because it swings both ways and can be used by anybody to justify just about anything. Liberation theologies that work to understand and lift up the causes of marginalized communities find hope in the book of Revelation. God takes down the powers that be and lifts up and honors the little guy. It’s a testament to God’s love and desire to save the outcasts of the world.
But of course, many modern Christians use the same book to defend harassment of church communities like ours. In Revelation they find spiritual warfare, and permission to assault and harass us since we are obviously aligned with Satan and Babylon ourselves. It’s hard to talk across the aisle when the person you are talking to is certain you are full of demonic forces simply because you are a woman pastor, let alone that you love the gays.
Since the time of its composition until now, Revelation serves as a Rorschach test for Christians. What you see in it says a lot about who you are. Underdogs see a story of victory over the ruling class, which I believe is its historical context and the correct interpretation. But throughout history, the ruling empires have used it as a cudgel to lift themselves even higher and to squash any rebellion. It’s either hope for the hopeless, or permission for violence for those who make the rules.
Our text for today is from the close of the book and it is typical of the deep metaphor and mysterious imagery of the whole thing. In the section that Bill read, the serpent or Devil is bound for 1000 years, there is a reign of resurrected Christians and martyrs, and then the devil is released again and there is a great battle on the earth. Sometimes we call this Armageddon which is a reference to the actual place Megiddo in Israel, where a great battle did take place.
In the section that I read, the book of life is opened and names are read. Death and Hades are thrown into a lake of fire, and then heaven and earth pass away. A new Jerusalem comes from out of the sky, and the home of God is among mortals. In my opinion, this is the good part of Revelation, chapter 21 verses 3 and 4, where God promises to dwell with us and wipe away our tears, death and crying are no more and we never suffer again.
Then God says all things are made new, all those in need get water and food, and everyone is children of God. There is a list here of people here that are cast into a lake of fire, but the point is that those who hurt us will no longer be there. This isn’t so much about their suffering and punishment, as it is about our being safe from harm.
If you are reading along you can see all sorts of things here that have crossed over into our modern world. Lots of people who don’t go to church probably have ideas about a judgement day, a book with names, a battle of Armageddon, and hell with fire in it. It’s all there, but it was never meant to be literal. Remember you are reading a mystery.
Now of course, lots of people read this and decide that it is all about other people going to hell. But if we remember its context that was not its function in its time and place. Revelation is about hope and redemption. This is about the death of death. No more suffering, no more dying, no more tears. Whatever is happening in our world, God is making things right.
When we read this apocalypse with an eye for hope, we find that in the end there is not an event, instead there is just God. When it is all over, when the world as we know it has ended, then we will be with God. Humans have always told stories about catastrophes that end the world. The point of Revelation is that following catastrophe, there is God.
We are celebrating communion today and we always name this promise as we gather at the table. When I say “people will come from east and west, north and south, and sit together in the kingdom of God” I am naming a promise of peace for the world. I am claiming a hope that comes from Revelation. One day God will come again, God will be with us fully, and God will make things right.
So that’s apocalypse. In its original context and in my mind today, this is a word of hope to all people. Suffering has always been our lot and people have always lived in fear of great catastrophe. Bad things happen, and yet God is with us. The Book of Revelation is a word of hope to the people. When the end comes, God will be with us. Death is not the end, for God promises the death of death. God is all things, Alpha and Omega, the whole gamut of creation, and so when everything ends, God will remain God.
We don’t need to be afraid, for in the end there is nothing but God.
So today I finish with a word of hope,
“See, the home of God is with us. God will dwell with us, and we will be the people of God. God will be with us, and God will wipe away all our tears. Death will be no more, sadness and crying and pain will end. For the first things, the world that we have known, has passed away, and God is making all things new.” Thanks be to God. Amen.
