Rev 21:9-14, 21-27
Seminarian Darren Harbaugh
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I read the Bible and think, “I have no idea what this is talking about.” That happens to me like everyday. I suppose that’s not what you want to hear from a future pastor, but it’s true nonetheless.
Honestly, the Bible really stumps me sometimes. Take the lesson from Revelation that was just read a moment ago. It talks about the “Holy City,” New Jerusalem and its walls and gates and foundations. I know this is supposed to tell me something about everlasting life, but what exactly? I don’t know. I don’t think anyone really knows for sure. I have to confess; at first glance it doesn’t seem all that real and tangible.
I) I really want to have hope in the life to come, but sometimes its not all that easy. Look around. Everything seems to be broken. I’m sure that everyone here has experienced some sort of broken relationship and you know many other people who have as well.
Our bodies themselves are broken. We get sick. Those we love get sick. They die.
The world certainly seems broken: Oil spills and volcanoes. Earthquakes and Tsunamis. Terrorist plots and Warfare. Violent crime and abortion. Financial and political disarray.
These things seem real and tangible and in your face.
2) Then there is the church. I know that the church is the place that should provide hope and comfort, but it often seems like the church is the mouse in the corner sometimes. There was a time when the church was significant in the eyes of society, but that time has passed. That is until some Christian or clergy member says or does something stupid. In that case it will make the front page of the paper, but outside of being a whipping boy for pop culture, the church seems to have little significance in society today.
3) Besides the world in general, and the church specifically, it can be difficult personally even to pray sometimes. I get jealous of the 12 apostles who could walk and talk with Jesus face to face. I think that if I could experience that, just once, it would make the faith more real, more tangible.
I started off by saying that there was a lot that I didn’t know about the lesson from Revelation and then expanded that statement to include the many things that I don’t know about life in general
Thankfully I got this book that is real and true and tangible and it has something for you today. And we will use it to help us better understand what is going on in Revelation. It just so happeneds that the three worries I brought up about the brokenness of the world, the seeming insignificance of the church and the seeming distance between God and man are all addressed in our lesson from Revelation 21. Imagine that. So let’s take a look and see what this book has to say about these issues.
1) First, yes, the church does seem insignificant. But look at this picture from our lesson; it gives us the promise that the church will endure forever. This Holy city, this New Jerusalem is described, as a bride. We know that the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5speaks of the church as the Bride of Christ. This lesson is describing the church glorified in everlasting life. It is describing us because we are all part of the church. How do you know it? How can this idea be real and tangible? Were you baptized? Then you are apart of the church, the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem and this morning we are talking about your future.
But we must look to the past first. You sit here in Resurrection Lutheran church. The Lutheran church is built on nothing more than the teaching of the apostles as ordained by Christ. Look at the 12 foundations of the New Jerusalem, inscribed with the names of the apostles. This is describing us! Paul writes in Ephesians 2: “You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
We do not need to doubt the stability of the church. We know that Jesus is the cornerstone of the church and he said in Matthew 16 that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We have the promise from Christ. In other words, the church ain’t goin nowhere.
The “reality” presented to you about the church by the news and by Richard Dawkins and friends is not the reality of the church. Let’s talk about reality. There was a time once when Greece was the ruler of pretty much the entire world. Now, well, I suppose the situation is a bit different. It just goes to show that what the world takes as a sure thing may indeed turn out to be otherwise.
But the Word of Christ is true and real and tangible. You can splash around in it and eat it and drink it.
2) Secondly, well, what about the world? It’s broken. Don’t need to look in here (Bible) to figure that one out. Truth be told, I don’t see it getting better anytime soon. But let’s pause for a second. Think about what the world would be like without all its problems – a perfect world. Can you imagine it? It’s hard. But God doesn’t have to imagine. He remembers what that is like - The Garden of Eden.
The holy City, New Jerusalem here in Revelation 21 is pictured as a New Eden. In the beginning, God said, “let there be light” and there was light from God before the creation of the sun or moon. Here in Revelation 21 it says that there is no sun or moon, but rather that God the Father and Jesus the lamb are the Light. John 1 says that Jesus is “the true light who enlightens every man”. In 1st John 1 we learn that “God is light and in him is no darkness at all”. This is recreation, Eden restored. Everything that is broken will be fixed, no more death or pain. As it was in the beginning, it will be that way forever and ever.
In Revelation 21, we are told that an angel guards each gate of New Jerusalem, just as an angel with a fiery sword blocked the way to Eden from sinful Adam and Eve. Nothing broken or damaged or unclean will be allowed to enter the gates but rather must remain outside the city walls.
The good news is that in the book of Hebrews we read that Christ suffered and died outside the city walls of Old Jerusalem so that people from every nation may freely enter the New Jerusalem, the New Eden. All are invited from the North, and from the South and from the East and from the West to enter the gates that will never close.
But how do you know that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life? How do you know that you will pass through those pearly gates of New Jerusalem? As we have seen, New Jerusalem is the church, and how do you enter the church (You heard this one before)? Remember your real and tangible (with wet water) baptism.
3) Finally, the best, best, best thing about our lesson from Revelation, in my humble opinion is the relationship it describes that we will have with God, just like Adam and Eve experienced in the garden of Eden where the walked and talked with God face to face. Just like the 12 apostles walked and talked with Jesus face to face. So also we will see God face to face. Revelation 21 tells us that there is no temple in the city but that God and Jesus the Lamb would be the Temple.
Imagine how that sounded to the people of the early church. No temple? The temple was everything to the life of Israel. When it was destroyed in 70 AD, it was and still is devastating for the Jewish people.
But in Revelation, we see that no temple is a good thing. There is no need for a tabernacle or pillar of fire or anything else to mediate God’s presence. In the New Eden, we will communicate with God more fully than we can ever imagine.
There is much that is confusing about Scripture and about life here on earth. But we can be sure that the Word of Christ and his church will endure forever. You don’t need to fear. Christ himself said, “Fear not the world, for I have overcome the world.” The world will pass away, but the church, the bride of Christ will endure forever and will be glorified as the new Eden, the new Creation for you and I to enjoy for life everlasting. How is that real and true and tangible? Right now God who gives you this promise, this hope, this future is present in his Word. This God is present in the bread and the wine for you his new creation as we await his New Eden.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
