The King on His Glorious Throne

In these "last Sundays" of the Church Year, I count it all joy to serve a congregation where we get to feast our eyes on the King on His glorious throne! Actually, we get to feast our eyes on the King and His glorious throne every Sunday, but I especially love this juxtaposition of the crucified Christ and the victorious Lamb at the end of the Church Year. After all, we cannot have one without the other. The crucified Christ, even in His apparent defeat of death, truly is the victorious Lamb of God who has conquered sin, death, and the devil for us. And as the book of Revelation reminds us, our future - our eternity - will bring the true feasting of the eyes on the Lamb who has restored us to life with our gracious creating, redeeming God.

But what's even better is the true feast that takes place every Sunday and Wednesday at Hope Lutheran Church, St. Louis, and on other festivals, on the Altar just beneath this picture. Talk about telescoping time! The gifts and benefits won in the past by the King on the throne of His cross - the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation - come to us now, in the present, in the King's own Body and Blood on the throne of the Altar. This very feast prepares, nurtures, and sustains us for the yet more glorious future feast with the Lamb in His eternal Kingdom.

Something tells me that I'm getting spoiled by feasting my eyes on the King on His glorious throne(s), but, hey, I can admit when I'm being treated much better than I deserve by the God who loves much more than I can ever fathom. And I can hardly wait for the true and genuine feasting of our eyes on the King on His glorious throne for all eternity!

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. (Revelation 7:9-11)

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3)

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)