Preached on Sunday, September 29, 2024, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, at Trinity Cathedral, Little Rock.

From God’s Revelation to Saint John: “War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven” (Revelation 12:7–8).

The Book of Revelation really is just that: a revealing, a literal uncovering, an apocalypse. That’s this book’s Greek name: Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ, the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. Nowadays, you can look up “apocalypse” in the dictionary and find things about the end of the world, the final destruction of all things, some sort of violent and catastrophic completion. And sure enough, we find things to that end in this book, too: a sermon for another day. But we must remember that this book isn’t first and foremost about the end times. Rather, it’s a book that reveals and uncovers reality. This book looks forward––to the end of all things, for example––but it also it looks backward––to that great war fought in heaven, as we hear today. But the book of Revelation only looks forward and backward to say something about the present day. This book removes the veil that prevents us from seeing how things really are, here and now. This is the Apocalypse, the Revelation of God to His servant, Saint John, and now, to those of us here, gathered in this Cathedral.

So, just what is being revealed to us this morning, on this, the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels?

Let’s start with the obvious: angels! This passage from Revelation lifts the veil from before our faces that we might see the angels. Our collect for the day reminds us that the angels, like us, have a ministry, wonderfully ordained and constituted by God Himself. Angels have a vocation. They are called to serve God, just like we are. As one of our hymns today puts it, the holy angels “wait at God’s right hand and they fly at His command.” They are organized and ordered, too: “rank on rank, the host of heaven,” we just sang. Saint Michael the Archangel leads them. And so ordered, the angels fight for the Lord, not with sword or shield, but with a living testimony, a spoken word, a witness to the life and death of Jesus Christ. Afterall, that’s what angel means: “messenger.” It’s their message-bearing that brings victory for our God. These angels are real, Scripture reveals to us, “spreading their vanguard on their way.”

But alongside the angels of God, this book reveals to us something quite terrible: the Devil himself. Yes, the Devil is at work, too, not serving the Lord, but deceiving the whole world. For he is the deceiver, the Satan. Notice, then, that this evil is personal. Evil, here, is not merely negative energy or the wrong choices that we make. The Devil is described as having agency. “The Devil fights back,” Revelation tells us. And he, too, has his forces, his own angels. He, too, is organized. There’s something systemic to Satan’s work. He sews chaos, but it’s not entirely random or senseless. There is a kind of leadership and purpose in this evil. And to make matters worse, this evil is truly monstrous: described as a great dragon from ancient times, a mighty and maleficent serpent. This, too, Scripture reveals to us: the Devil is real, and with his angels, he fights back.

Now, the book of Revelation reveals to us that, ultimately, God prevails. Saint Michael casts down Satan, slating the dragon—an image you can find depicted on our portative organ here at Trinity. This is Gospel, the Gospel, the good news that now defines all of reality. The Devil fought back, but he was defeated. And so we hear from the great, angelic host in heaven, with a loud voice: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” The Devil is done and dealt with.

And yet, the Devil has been thrown down to this earth of ours. The war in heaven is over and victory has been won, but Satan has retreated to our realm. He knows his time is short, Revelation tells us, and so, he causes as much damage as he can in the meantime, not because he can win, but because that’s the only move he has left. 

So, in the end, what does all of this reveal to us about our present day? Quite simply: the Devil is real. Defeated, yes, but very real. He knows his time is short, and so, he causes great damage to those of us on earth while he still can, but his end is certain.

“Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

The book of Revelation helps us to make sense of this world of ours: God’s victory is true, but the pain we experience, the damage done by the Devil and his forces, are true, as well. After all, two things can be true at the same time. That’s the tension Revelation holds together before our eyes, unveiling it for us to see.

Now, admittedly, this all a bit difficult for us to believe, in at least two ways, I think:

First, it’s difficult for many of us to believe that the Devil is real. After all, is it not our own choices, not the Devil, that cause chaos in this world? Aren’t we the ones with the power? Our new Cathedral Book Club has been reading a book called Shelter Theology: The Religious Lives of People without Homes by Susan Dunlap, a teacher at the Duke Divinity School. And one of the many lessons Professor Dunlap has taught us in that book is that those who are privileged can more easily dismiss the reality of the Devil. The more power we have, the more resources we have, the more we can pretend that the Devil is powerless in this world of ours, as if we are free from evil forces, as if we can save ourselves. (I have in parentheses here, “consider this a not-so-subtle invitation to come join us at Book Club: Wednesdays, 6:30 pm, Baker Parlor, we’ll see you there.)

But second, and the more worrisome, I think, it’s difficult for us to believe that this Devil has been defeated. How can he be? The world is crumbling. Evil is clearly on the move, multiplying in number, gaining in strength. Where is the victory?

And it’s because of difficulties like these that, ultimately, it takes a revelation of some kind, an apocalypse from God Himself. It takes a revelation to cut through our privilege and power, our false sense of safety. It takes a revelation to show us that death has been defeated and that Jesus Christ reigns true victor. God has to show us what we can’t see. That’s why we need this book, gifted to us by God through Saint John all those years ago: so that we might truly see the reality of this world and that we might take comfort in the victory of our God, which so often remains hidden to our feeble senses. 

And so, on this festival of the Church, may our eyes be open to the forces that sew chaos in this world, which do so with great wrath, causing destruction and distress. May our eyes be open to the holy angels of God, who, by God’s grace, seek to protect and defend us, day by day. And may we see the undeniable and unabating victory of our Lord, “the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,” Who, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, on God, in glory everlasting. Amen.