|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leaving the Shadowlands
Revelation 21:1-8 23 November, 2008
“Leaving the Shadowlands”
And so, at last, we come to the end of a journey that began all of
eighteen months ago. From the first verse of the Bible “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth” to its closing
words, sixty-six books and a couple of thousand pages later, “He who
testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come,
Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.
Amen.” We’ve walked the Bible from end to end and what a journey it
has been; from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane;
from the smelting furnace of Egypt to the waterbrooks of Canaan
where a shepherd-king named David knelt to cool his thirst; from the
holy mountain of Sinai where the Law was written by the finger of God
to the hill of the Skull where the grace of God was poured out in the
sangre de Christo (the blood of Christ). We have gone from a garden
paradise emptied of its occupants to a garden tomb left open and
empty by the only occupant it had ever known. We have seen a loose
federation of slaves turn into a unified theocracy whose calling it was
to be a light to the nations. We saw that same kingdom divide and fall
2
crushed and splintered under the weight of its relentless idolatry and
its tragic inability to keep faith with its covenant partner. And as
much as we didn’t want to, we saw ourselves in those people. We did
not want to watch as they were once again driven as slaves into exile,
because we know what it is like to feel cut-off and far from home as
the inevitable consequence of our stubborn will to sin. We looked
with longing for the one Isaiah described as God’s Suffering Servant,
and we felt our own hearts leap when a latter-day prophet named
John stood by the water’s edge pointing to a solitary figure and said
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Like
every other disciple Jesus has ever had, we walked in the halt and
stumbling footsteps of his first fallible followers. And we winced with
recognition at every struggle those early churches had, because,
maybe, we have had them too. We did not want to relate to the
inexplicable suffering of Job, but we felt it in our bones because not
one of us (not one of us) has moved through this life unscathed by
sorrows we didn’t see coming. And who among us, at the touch of
Jesus, could not rejoice in and echo the words of that newly healed
man, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see”?
In short, we started out to read their story, and were startled at how
3
quickly we recognized it to be our own. We wanted to feel superior to
those misguided desert wanderers, and then were humbled to
discover that many of them knew things spiritually that we haven’t (or
ain’t) had time to learn. In a word, we discovered that we are part of
the story that was being told; one that awaits its consummation in a
future that hovers ever-so-close at hand.
So lets make sure we notice this morning how, in pointing us toward
the grand and unstoppable completion of all that God commenced to
do at the dawn of creation, God weaves into a beautiful unity a host of
themes from all that we have read and studied up till now. The God
who will usher in the new heaven and the new earth, spoken of in
verse 1, is the one and same God who created the first heaven and
the first earth. In the words of my “spirit of the Reformation Study
Bible, “God is the Alpha, the creator, whose purposes were expressed
in creation from the beginning. Now he shows himself to be the
Omega, the Consummator, who brings his purposes to final
realization.” We already know about Jerusalem, the City of David, the
city over which Jesus wept; and here, in verse 2, we see the Holy City
revitalized by God himself and established as the eternal dwelling
4
place of God among his people on a renewed earth. We already know
about the covenant of marriage established by God in the second
chapter of Genesis; and here, in the second verse of Revelation 21,
our final communion with God is expressed through the imagery of
marriage. We have known since before the days of Solomon that God
made the breath-taking promise to be approachable in our midst
through the establishment of the tabernacle and the temple; and here,
in verse 3, God assures us that the day will dawn when he will dwell
permanently in our midst. From the earliest letters in the new
Testament we were given to understand that saints were not the few,
the proud, the rare devout ones who stood out among God’s people,
but were, in fact, everyone who belonged to Jesus Christ; and here in
verse 3, we hear God’s declaration that we will ever and always be his
people and that he will live with us and be our God forever. We have
known from the sad third chapter of Genesis that sin brought in it’s
wake both suffering and death, and here, in verse 4, we are told that
God will wipe every tear from our eyes and that there will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will
pass away. We have learned from the beginning that we do not live
by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,
5
and here, in verse 5, Jesus himself (who is the source of this
Revelation to John on the Isle of Patmos) says, “Write this down, for
these words are trustworthy and true”. Jesus had assured the
woman at the well that he could give her living water, water that would
refresh her forever; and here, in verse 6, he says, “To him who is
thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of
life”. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the
peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God; and here, in
verse 7, we are told that those who overcome will inherit all this, and
that they will be God’s children. Throughout the Bible those who
willfully and permanently turn their back on God are warned of the
judgment to come; and here, in verse 8, the place they have chosen
for themselves is described in brief but horrific detail. In verse 8 the
judgment so long forestalled, finally takes place, and it comes as an
irreversible spiritual death.
Can you see how clearly God’s hand has shaped and steered that
content of this book called simply “The Bible”? Sixty-six books,
written by scores of authors, in three different languages, by people
from every walk of life, people who walked the corridors of power and
6
people who wrote from prison cells, the learned and the rough hewn,
kings and slaves, fishermen and exiles, survivors of vastly different
eras and political regimes, separated by more than a thousand years
– and yet, somehow, all these themes, traceable and woven together
like so many threads from Genesis to Revelation, together bear a
towering testimony that all of them (as Peter said) were carried along
by the same Holy Spirit. The unity of the Bible didn’t just happen, and
neither does it hang together as the result of some clever latter-day
editing. It comes to us with astonishing completeness and coherence
because the God who inspired it all has been trying to get through to
us from day one. And the last word of it was not written until the selfdisclosing
God was confident that we had in it everything we need to
know for our life and for our salvation. Whatever else we have
learned in the past year and a half I hope we have learned at least that
much.
Now, let me take the time that remains to talk about heaven and hell,
because however we understand the specifics of the one or the other,
we will by our own choices, deal with one of them for a very long time.
Let’s start with heaven, since 7 of the 8 verses of our text for this
7
morning, focus on its reality. And I don’t think that is accidental. I am
convinced that God wants us to embrace our fellowship with him out
of love, not out of fear. How flattered would you be if your fiancé said,
“You know, I really don’t want to marry you, but it beats the
alternative, I guess”? God acquaints us with the reality of hell in the
same way a parent who cares acquaints their child with the grisly
potential disasters of combining drinking and driving; but clearly, the
parent would hope and prefer that their child would choose to drive
safely because driving is a privilege and it’s good to be alive and it is
not good to kill someone else. He may set before us life and death,
but he wants us to choose life.
So we start with heaven. And let me throw in one more preliminary
comment. We believe in heaven (and hell) because Jesus taught and
spoke about them both as concrete realities. That’s good enough for
me. Jesus was never wrong about anything. And so I believe in
heaven (and hell) because Jesus does. If I didn’t believe that Jesus is
the Son of God, I might feel free to modify or simply not believe in
heaven or hell. But if the one who is the Truth tells me to take them
8
seriously, it would be patently illogical to believe him on every other
point, but not this. So I believe him. Absolutely.
What we need to think about, is what the Bible about heaven, as
opposed to what Hollywood imagines as heaven. As I’ve said before,
Hollywood is somehow stuck on the idea that heaven is either a vast
and wispy cloud bank way out in outer space (at the entrance of
which sits a white-bearded guy – probably Peter – checking names
like a reservations clerk in a motel) or it’s more like a big cornfield in
Iowa. Either way it’s pretty corny, (if you’ll forgive the pun). Heaven,
according to the Bible, is not corny. And according to our text for
today it would probably be more accurate to think of heaven coming
to us than about us going to heaven. According to the Bible, God
created a beautiful and flawless universe. When human beings chose
to rebel against him and sin, our sin planted the seeds that would
destroy us and consequently wreak havoc on the rest of God’s
creation. So God chose to redeem us through the death and
resurrection of Christ, and if we accept his grace and his will to reestablish
our relationship through him, God promises us a permanent
future in his presence on a new (or renewed) earth. In other words
9
when we talk about life in the kingdom of heaven, we are talking about
a concrete existence in physically resurrected bodies on an earth that
is just as real and complex and beautiful as the one we are living in
right now, only without the tragic fall-out brought about by sin in
short, fullness of life as God intended it originally without, death or
suffering, sin or pain. Life with God on a pristine earth forever.
Growing, learning, deepening, loving, creative life. Not corny. Just
good and holy and wholesome life with God forever. What about
those who have died in Christ already? Jesus said he would prepare
a place for us. It is a wonderful place because it is with Jesus. But
the word he uses to describe our abode with him is the word used to
describe a temporary shelter. In other words, we believe that when
our physical body dies, our very alive soul is ushered immediately
(“this day”) and consciously into the presence of our Living Lord.
Then, at the moment of God’s choosing, Jesus will appear in a
Second Coming that will be manifest to all the earth. On that day our
physical bodies will be re-constituted and resurrected, and in that
self-same hour our bodies and souls will be permanently re-united,
the only difference being that our bodies will enjoy the capabilities
that Jesus demonstrated after his resurrection. In short the reality of
10
his physical resurrection is the central guarantee of our physical
resurrection. Are our loved ones in Christ with him? Yes. Will we be
re-united with them and live in the fullness of life described by our
text? Yes. Is that saccharine or corny or goofy? Not in the least.
And we believe it because Jesus says it will be so.
What about hell? Do we believe in the reality of hell? Unless we
believe Jesus got this one wrong we must believe in hell. The word
Jesus frequently used for hell was gehenna. Gehenna was another
name for the valley of Ben Hinnom – which was essentially a garbage
dump just south of Jerusalem. It was a place where refuse of all
kinds was taken and eventually incinerated. It was a real place where
it seemed that the smoke and fires never went out. Now, we have to
be careful here. While I don’t think Jesus meant that those who
refuse to be in relationship with God will consign themselves to a
garbage dump just south of Jerusalem, I do believe he is talking
about a real and physical reality – a place of permanent exile, away
from the presence of God. Will the sorrow and anguish of being in
that place be real? I don’t see how it could be otherwise. Are the
“flames” of hell real or figurative? In my opinion, it wouldn’t make
11
much difference. Hell is the truth known too late, when we cannot
change our mind or reverse our refusal to acknowledge God or to
accept his Christ. In all seriousness, whatever its physical
dimensions will be, the prospect of hell and its substantial reality
ought to appall us. If, as every adult knows, our choices always have
consequences, then our fore-parents in the faith were much wiser and
more sensible and infinitely more mature when they refused to ignore
the very real prospect of hell. Only a childish and biblically ignorant
culture wants to pretend there is not hell; in much the same way it
wants to pretend that there really is no one we have to answer to, and
no particular reason for our existence. But like Golliam in “The Lord
of the Rings” the more we misplace our rightful worship. The less
human we become. In the end, it will be our choices that will fit us
either for heaven or for hell. And God will not be mocked or trifled
with. If we don’t take this seriously we will be the most foolish
generation in twenty-one centuries. I’m saying, when it comes to hell,
be afraid. Be very afraid. And quit goofing around with your life.
This isn’t a game. Our choices will have consequences, like we better
believe they will. Heaven awaits. God invites. Hell only awaits those
who willfully and consistently reject the invitation. The invitation
12
requires an R.S.V.P. The R.S.V.P. is our life lived in responsive
obedience to Jesus Christ. And need I remind us,(?) not to decide is
to decide. In other words, if you never get around to making and
acting on your decision, you made your decision. And God will let it
stand. Bob Dylan once said, “He who isn’t busy being born, is busy
dying.” So decide already, and if you decide to acknowledge Jesus
as Lord, act on it. Everyday. From now on. Amen? Amen.
“Leaving the Shadowlands”
And so, at last, we come to the end of a journey that began all of
eighteen months ago. From the first verse of the Bible “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth” to its closing
words, sixty-six books and a couple of thousand pages later, “He who
testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come,
Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.
Amen.” We’ve walked the Bible from end to end and what a journey it
has been; from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane;
from the smelting furnace of Egypt to the waterbrooks of Canaan
where a shepherd-king named David knelt to cool his thirst; from the
holy mountain of Sinai where the Law was written by the finger of God
to the hill of the Skull where the grace of God was poured out in the
sangre de Christo (the blood of Christ). We have gone from a garden
paradise emptied of its occupants to a garden tomb left open and
empty by the only occupant it had ever known. We have seen a loose
federation of slaves turn into a unified theocracy whose calling it was
to be a light to the nations. We saw that same kingdom divide and fall
2
crushed and splintered under the weight of its relentless idolatry and
its tragic inability to keep faith with its covenant partner. And as
much as we didn’t want to, we saw ourselves in those people. We did
not want to watch as they were once again driven as slaves into exile,
because we know what it is like to feel cut-off and far from home as
the inevitable consequence of our stubborn will to sin. We looked
with longing for the one Isaiah described as God’s Suffering Servant,
and we felt our own hearts leap when a latter-day prophet named
John stood by the water’s edge pointing to a solitary figure and said
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Like
every other disciple Jesus has ever had, we walked in the halt and
stumbling footsteps of his first fallible followers. And we winced with
recognition at every struggle those early churches had, because,
maybe, we have had them too. We did not want to relate to the
inexplicable suffering of Job, but we felt it in our bones because not
one of us (not one of us) has moved through this life unscathed by
sorrows we didn’t see coming. And who among us, at the touch of
Jesus, could not rejoice in and echo the words of that newly healed
man, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see”?
In short, we started out to read their story, and were startled at how
3
quickly we recognized it to be our own. We wanted to feel superior to
those misguided desert wanderers, and then were humbled to
discover that many of them knew things spiritually that we haven’t (or
ain’t) had time to learn. In a word, we discovered that we are part of
the story that was being told; one that awaits its consummation in a
future that hovers ever-so-close at hand.
So lets make sure we notice this morning how, in pointing us toward
the grand and unstoppable completion of all that God commenced to
do at the dawn of creation, God weaves into a beautiful unity a host of
themes from all that we have read and studied up till now. The God
who will usher in the new heaven and the new earth, spoken of in
verse 1, is the one and same God who created the first heaven and
the first earth. In the words of my “spirit of the Reformation Study
Bible, “God is the Alpha, the creator, whose purposes were expressed
in creation from the beginning. Now he shows himself to be the
Omega, the Consummator, who brings his purposes to final
realization.” We already know about Jerusalem, the City of David, the
city over which Jesus wept; and here, in verse 2, we see the Holy City
revitalized by God himself and established as the eternal dwelling
4
place of God among his people on a renewed earth. We already know
about the covenant of marriage established by God in the second
chapter of Genesis; and here, in the second verse of Revelation 21,
our final communion with God is expressed through the imagery of
marriage. We have known since before the days of Solomon that God
made the breath-taking promise to be approachable in our midst
through the establishment of the tabernacle and the temple; and here,
in verse 3, God assures us that the day will dawn when he will dwell
permanently in our midst. From the earliest letters in the new
Testament we were given to understand that saints were not the few,
the proud, the rare devout ones who stood out among God’s people,
but were, in fact, everyone who belonged to Jesus Christ; and here in
verse 3, we hear God’s declaration that we will ever and always be his
people and that he will live with us and be our God forever. We have
known from the sad third chapter of Genesis that sin brought in it’s
wake both suffering and death, and here, in verse 4, we are told that
God will wipe every tear from our eyes and that there will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will
pass away. We have learned from the beginning that we do not live
by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,
5
and here, in verse 5, Jesus himself (who is the source of this
Revelation to John on the Isle of Patmos) says, “Write this down, for
these words are trustworthy and true”. Jesus had assured the
woman at the well that he could give her living water, water that would
refresh her forever; and here, in verse 6, he says, “To him who is
thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of
life”. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the
peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God; and here, in
verse 7, we are told that those who overcome will inherit all this, and
that they will be God’s children. Throughout the Bible those who
willfully and permanently turn their back on God are warned of the
judgment to come; and here, in verse 8, the place they have chosen
for themselves is described in brief but horrific detail. In verse 8 the
judgment so long forestalled, finally takes place, and it comes as an
irreversible spiritual death.
Can you see how clearly God’s hand has shaped and steered that
content of this book called simply “The Bible”? Sixty-six books,
written by scores of authors, in three different languages, by people
from every walk of life, people who walked the corridors of power and
6
people who wrote from prison cells, the learned and the rough hewn,
kings and slaves, fishermen and exiles, survivors of vastly different
eras and political regimes, separated by more than a thousand years
– and yet, somehow, all these themes, traceable and woven together
like so many threads from Genesis to Revelation, together bear a
towering testimony that all of them (as Peter said) were carried along
by the same Holy Spirit. The unity of the Bible didn’t just happen, and
neither does it hang together as the result of some clever latter-day
editing. It comes to us with astonishing completeness and coherence
because the God who inspired it all has been trying to get through to
us from day one. And the last word of it was not written until the selfdisclosing
God was confident that we had in it everything we need to
know for our life and for our salvation. Whatever else we have
learned in the past year and a half I hope we have learned at least that
much.
Now, let me take the time that remains to talk about heaven and hell,
because however we understand the specifics of the one or the other,
we will by our own choices, deal with one of them for a very long time.
Let’s start with heaven, since 7 of the 8 verses of our text for this
7
morning, focus on its reality. And I don’t think that is accidental. I am
convinced that God wants us to embrace our fellowship with him out
of love, not out of fear. How flattered would you be if your fiancé said,
“You know, I really don’t want to marry you, but it beats the
alternative, I guess”? God acquaints us with the reality of hell in the
same way a parent who cares acquaints their child with the grisly
potential disasters of combining drinking and driving; but clearly, the
parent would hope and prefer that their child would choose to drive
safely because driving is a privilege and it’s good to be alive and it is
not good to kill someone else. He may set before us life and death,
but he wants us to choose life.
So we start with heaven. And let me throw in one more preliminary
comment. We believe in heaven (and hell) because Jesus taught and
spoke about them both as concrete realities. That’s good enough for
me. Jesus was never wrong about anything. And so I believe in
heaven (and hell) because Jesus does. If I didn’t believe that Jesus is
the Son of God, I might feel free to modify or simply not believe in
heaven or hell. But if the one who is the Truth tells me to take them
8
seriously, it would be patently illogical to believe him on every other
point, but not this. So I believe him. Absolutely.
What we need to think about, is what the Bible about heaven, as
opposed to what Hollywood imagines as heaven. As I’ve said before,
Hollywood is somehow stuck on the idea that heaven is either a vast
and wispy cloud bank way out in outer space (at the entrance of
which sits a white-bearded guy – probably Peter – checking names
like a reservations clerk in a motel) or it’s more like a big cornfield in
Iowa. Either way it’s pretty corny, (if you’ll forgive the pun). Heaven,
according to the Bible, is not corny. And according to our text for
today it would probably be more accurate to think of heaven coming
to us than about us going to heaven. According to the Bible, God
created a beautiful and flawless universe. When human beings chose
to rebel against him and sin, our sin planted the seeds that would
destroy us and consequently wreak havoc on the rest of God’s
creation. So God chose to redeem us through the death and
resurrection of Christ, and if we accept his grace and his will to reestablish
our relationship through him, God promises us a permanent
future in his presence on a new (or renewed) earth. In other words
9
when we talk about life in the kingdom of heaven, we are talking about
a concrete existence in physically resurrected bodies on an earth that
is just as real and complex and beautiful as the one we are living in
right now, only without the tragic fall-out brought about by sin in
short, fullness of life as God intended it originally without, death or
suffering, sin or pain. Life with God on a pristine earth forever.
Growing, learning, deepening, loving, creative life. Not corny. Just
good and holy and wholesome life with God forever. What about
those who have died in Christ already? Jesus said he would prepare
a place for us. It is a wonderful place because it is with Jesus. But
the word he uses to describe our abode with him is the word used to
describe a temporary shelter. In other words, we believe that when
our physical body dies, our very alive soul is ushered immediately
(“this day”) and consciously into the presence of our Living Lord.
Then, at the moment of God’s choosing, Jesus will appear in a
Second Coming that will be manifest to all the earth. On that day our
physical bodies will be re-constituted and resurrected, and in that
self-same hour our bodies and souls will be permanently re-united,
the only difference being that our bodies will enjoy the capabilities
that Jesus demonstrated after his resurrection. In short the reality of
10
his physical resurrection is the central guarantee of our physical
resurrection. Are our loved ones in Christ with him? Yes. Will we be
re-united with them and live in the fullness of life described by our
text? Yes. Is that saccharine or corny or goofy? Not in the least.
And we believe it because Jesus says it will be so.
What about hell? Do we believe in the reality of hell? Unless we
believe Jesus got this one wrong we must believe in hell. The word
Jesus frequently used for hell was gehenna. Gehenna was another
name for the valley of Ben Hinnom – which was essentially a garbage
dump just south of Jerusalem. It was a place where refuse of all
kinds was taken and eventually incinerated. It was a real place where
it seemed that the smoke and fires never went out. Now, we have to
be careful here. While I don’t think Jesus meant that those who
refuse to be in relationship with God will consign themselves to a
garbage dump just south of Jerusalem, I do believe he is talking
about a real and physical reality – a place of permanent exile, away
from the presence of God. Will the sorrow and anguish of being in
that place be real? I don’t see how it could be otherwise. Are the
“flames” of hell real or figurative? In my opinion, it wouldn’t make
11
much difference. Hell is the truth known too late, when we cannot
change our mind or reverse our refusal to acknowledge God or to
accept his Christ. In all seriousness, whatever its physical
dimensions will be, the prospect of hell and its substantial reality
ought to appall us. If, as every adult knows, our choices always have
consequences, then our fore-parents in the faith were much wiser and
more sensible and infinitely more mature when they refused to ignore
the very real prospect of hell. Only a childish and biblically ignorant
culture wants to pretend there is not hell; in much the same way it
wants to pretend that there really is no one we have to answer to, and
no particular reason for our existence. But like Golliam in “The Lord
of the Rings” the more we misplace our rightful worship. The less
human we become. In the end, it will be our choices that will fit us
either for heaven or for hell. And God will not be mocked or trifled
with. If we don’t take this seriously we will be the most foolish
generation in twenty-one centuries. I’m saying, when it comes to hell,
be afraid. Be very afraid. And quit goofing around with your life.
This isn’t a game. Our choices will have consequences, like we better
believe they will. Heaven awaits. God invites. Hell only awaits those
who willfully and consistently reject the invitation. The invitation
12
requires an R.S.V.P. The R.S.V.P. is our life lived in responsive
obedience to Jesus Christ. And need I remind us,(?) not to decide is
to decide. In other words, if you never get around to making and
acting on your decision, you made your decision. And God will let it
stand. Bob Dylan once said, “He who isn’t busy being born, is busy
dying.” So decide already, and if you decide to acknowledge Jesus
as Lord, act on it. Everyday. From now on. Amen? Amen.
 sermon_11_23_08.pdf | [ ] | 48 Kb |
Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 June 2009 19:16 )