Using a text from Revelation two weeks in a row may surprise your congregation. The truth is, both last week's and this week's texts are within the realm of Revelation's "kinder and gentler" images. Just as last week's text offered Revelation's readers a needed break from the devastating images revealed by the breaking open of the seven seals, so this week's text offers a vision of perfect peace and plenty after the terrible judgment scenes in chapter 20. Having dispensed with sinners in an all-consuming lake of fire, the author now describes the reward of the righteous.

The hope of a future age of peace, ruled by God, is a traditional Old Testament Jewish hope that is central to John's concluding images. But even as the promise of a world to come follows John's vision of the final judgme…