Sermon on Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5 Easter 6C May 4 th /5 th, 2013 Grace and peace to you all from God our Father and the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We continue our focus this week on eternal life, or as we will more often put it; heaven. Last week we heard the great promise of God coming to earth and bringing heaven with him; so heaven isn t somewhere we go, heaven is something that is brought down to us. And something we notice in our passage for today is that heaven, the new heavens and the new earth, isn t full clouds and disembodied souls; it s full of people, its full of vegetation, its full of the water of life, its full of life; its full of God. Basically, what Scripture wants us to know and understand is that heaven, eternal life, isn t about where we are going, but it s about where God is going and where God wants to be. So if you want to have an idea of what the new creation might look like, just open your door or pull up the shades at your home and look outside; the new creation will look a lot like how things look now except for these things: There will be no more pain, there will be no sadness, there will be no more hunger or thirst, there will be no death, there will be no more darkness. Or if you really want a taste of what this might be like, life with no darkness, go to Anchorage, Alaska on June 22 nd and enjoy the 22 hours of daylight there. Our passage from Revelation for today hits on some of these images. Again we notice how John sees the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven from God. We also see that there will be no temples or churches to mediate God s presence; no need for those since God himself will be present. There is no darkness; Jesus himself is the lamp and the light. It will be just as Jesus said in John 8:12 I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. We hear about this beautiful image of the new creation that is always open; no one will be turned away, no one who is unclean will enter, and all those who are written in the Lamb s book of life will be there. We also hear about how this new creation will 1
look a lot like the original garden of Eden, only better; the water of life will run through its streets, there will be more than enough to eat since fruit, good delicious fruit, there will be no forbidden fruit, will always be growing on the tree of life; the same tree of life that was once guarded by angels with flaming swords after Adam and Eve first disobeyed God. And we also hear how the leaves of the trees will be the healing of the nations; all who would be healed from their disobedience and rebellion to God need only to ask, and God will heal them. This image of the tree of life could also be symbolic of the cross, or better, of Jesus Christ. As Jesus once said (John 14:6); I am the truth, the way and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. The Paradise that was lost will be the Paradise that has been regained. So why is this image of the new creation so important? C.S. Lewis said it best when he said these words: A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you will get neither. We look to the future God has in store for us, the future that God has promised to give to all those who simply believe and trust in Jesus Christ, because we want as many people to be invited into the presence of God himself. We look to the future God has promise to bring, because it is so awesome, so breathtaking, so unbelievably beautiful; we can t help but to share its awesomeness to any who would have ears to listen. And because we look toward the promised future, we also turn to look at the broken, hurting, and sinful world around us so that others who 2
don t believe would have a taste of things to come. This is why we send missionaries to spread the Good News. This is why we take care for the earth and the animals that God has given us to protect and nurture. This is why we ourselves are called out into our homes and community, so that others would see and hear about what and Who they are missing in the many holes in their lives. Like C.S. Lewis said, Aim at Heaven and you will get earth thrown in One of the things that Jack (C.S. Lewis often went by Jack; something I forgot when we named our Jack) said really sticks out to me though. He said, It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this [making a difference in this world]. And I wonder is he right about that? Half of me wants to say no, but the other half wants to agree wholeheartedly with him. The only time many of us really start to think and wonder about the beauty and power of God s new world, the new creation that has started to press down on us already, is when the life God has breathed into our bones starts to flee away. And if we live our lives of faith as disciples of Jesus Christ that way, we re missing something. We re forgetting our goal; life with God. It would be like the Lions or Packers playing 16 games a season with no determination to get to the Super Bowl. It would be like the Red Wings or the Tigers playing each game as if nothing important was going to happen at the end of the season. And believe me, being a lifelong Milwaukee Brewers fan, at the beginning of the season I will often hope for one main thing: They don t take last place. So to live our lives of faith with no goal of heavenly glory is like treading water and being stuck in the mud. What this is to say is heaven, eternal life, the new creation matters. And one of the biggest reasons the new heavens and the new earth matters here and now is because it validates and 3
confirms that the life we have been given is so important. And it s so important because the life we have now, just like the new life we will receive when Christ comes back in glory to raise our dead bodies, is a gift. The world we live in now, just like the new creation to come, is a gift to be cared for. And the way that we care for those presents from God our lives, our bodies, the land, the air, and the creatures around us is indicative of how much we care about God and his new and coming Kingdom. This is why John doesn t see anybody in the new kingdom who is unclean or practicing abominations or falsehoods; for those who are unclean and practice abominations and falsehoods are people who care little about how they treat themselves or other people, those who willfully go against God s will and intentions to harbor and nurture and sustain life, and those who would believe in lies and false gods instead of the one true God, the Holy One of Israel; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To show honor and care for all that God has made and will one day renew and re-create is nothing else than to trust in this God of ours. Because to trust in God is to have faith in God. And to have faith in God is to not only believe in the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ s death and resurrection which has purchased our redemption; having faith also means that we serve God the best way we can in light of God s mercy: With our lives, with our bodies, with our minds, with our hands and our feet. We do things like serve communion to shut-ins, visit the sick and dying, teach the Faith to our children and grandchildren; we welcome the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; we equip and support those who are merciful, those who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, support missionaries who preach the saving Word and are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. 4
We do these things why? Because we read in Revelation 21:27 this promise: Because our, your, names have been written in the Lamb s book of life. And so people of God, like the angel did for John, may God help us to lead more and more to the river of the water of life, to the city of God where the curses of sin, death, and the devil cannot abide, to the throne of God and of the Lamb, to the place where we will see God s face, to the place where no darkness can dwell. May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, and the work of our hands be pleasing in your sight O LORD, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Hymn of Day: ELW # 805 Lead on, O King Eternal 5