Untitled Sermon

It was time to write my first major paper of seminary. A New Testament theology course, heavy reading with a wicked smart professor.

Being the first paper, I wanted to do something impressive. I went back and forth on the topic. Eventually I decided to write my paper on Coronation Imagery in the Johannine Apocalyptic Corpus.

A fancy way of saying ‘Crowns being put on heads in Revelation’

I researched extensively and crafted my paper carefully, I engaged the wider scholarly community, my footnotes were nearly as long as the body of the paper. I thought I did everything perfectly.

I centered my paper around Revelation 4. I argued that John was using the symbol of a crown to demonstrate Jesus’ superiority over evil emperors like Domitian and idols like Zues. I spent hours and hours on this paper. 20 pages of examining this text, arguing over and over about how this chapter was meant to display the superiority of Jesus.

Revelation 4:1 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

I handed it in and waited anxiously. This was the best paper I had ever written. I had done so much research! Would he recommend I publish it in a journal? Would he say this was the best paper he had ever read?

I finally got my marks back, I raced to read his feedback, this paper I had worked so hard on. This is a good paper he wrote, there’s just one problem…. This passage isn’t talking about Jesus.

Point is, it’s easy to be wrong about the book of Revelation…

If that doesn’t inspire confidence in my interpretive skills, I don’t know what will. With that, let’s take a look at Revelation 21:1-8.

Revelation 21:1–8 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

The book of Revelation is divided into seven major sections, this text we’ve just read concludes the sixth and introduces the seventh major section of the book. This last section is largely concerned with the new creation that God is bringing about.

This is quite a difficult passage, not only to interpret, but it also deals with some uncomfortable topics about the final judgment and the fate of those who are not written in the Lamb’s book of life.

When we come to difficult passages such as these, it is helpful to determine a couple of things. We are going to establish a couple working terms, some different definitions.

First, is the genre. What genre of literature are we reading here? We read a historical narrative much differently than we would read a poem or a proverb.

The book of Revelation falls into the camp of three different genres, and this is important for how we interpret the passage.

First, it is apocalyptic in nature. Now, Biblical apocalypticism doesn’t necessarily mean the end-times apocalypse.

Apocalypse is a type of writing, it is a way of thinking and communicating. Apocalyptic literature is defined by its focus on the radical in breaking of God into human activity.

Thus, the story of the Bible can be viewed through an apocalyptic lens in which God is progressively entering into human activity to accomplish his redemptive purposes.

There is an entire community of scholars who read Paul through this lens. They view salvation, even, as something profoundly apocalyptic. Again, not necessarily dealing with the end-times apocalypse, but highlighting God’s cosmic victory and His radical in breaking into human activity.

We can read the Bible through an apocalyptic lens, looking for the radical in-breaking power of God into human activity. When I sit down to write a sermon, after prayer and reading through the text multiple times, I ask myself two questions:

Where is the radical in-breaking power of God in the text?

Where is the radical in-breaking power of God in the world today?

Thus, we can read and even preach through an apocalyptic lens.

John writes in this vein, highlighting the radical in breaking the power of God, this time visibly into human activity.

Second, the book of Revelation is an epistle. It is a letter, written to specific people at a specific time. Yes, the Bible was written for us but it wasn’t written to us.

This means that the book of Revelation is not a code to crack. There is not some magic formula or special sauce that will give us all of the insights into what each and every symbol or section means.

The third genre is that Revelation is prophetic. But we need to understand the nature of Biblical prophecy.

The Biblical prophets were not primarily concerned with foretelling events that occurred way off in the future, they certainly did that and John certainly does that in Revelation.

The Biblical prophets were more concerned with calling forth the people of God to covenant obedience. The impending judgment of God is used in Biblical prophecy to motivate God’s people towards His grace and love, covenant obedience in the here and now.

John’s writing is concerned with future events, but it is more concerned with motivating God’s people towards faith and obedience.

There is also this aspect of Biblical prophecy that is telescoping in nature. Something can have an immediate fulfillment and an ultimate fulfillment.

We can take the motif or character of Babylon in Revelation as an example. Babylon is a symbol of what is against God. The nation of Babylon took the people out of their Israelites land and led them into exile.

Thus, Babylon is representative of anything that leads God’s people away from Him. Babylon, in Revelation is depicted as a great city which is destroyed in Revelation 18.

Revelation 18 ESV

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!” The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

For John’s audience, they would have certainly associated this with Rome. The literal city of Rome fell in 476 AD. Right, so there is this immediate fulfillment of the prophecy, but there is an ultimate fulfillment in which all of the things that lead God’s people away from Him will be destroyed.

In today’s text we have come to the fulfillment of the covenant God has made with His people. We have come to the end of time and creation.

The covenant that God has made with His people was inaugurated by Christ and His work on the Cross.

The covenant, the special relationship, that God has entered into with His people is one of Promise.

God has made promises to His people, and the Word of God shall always, always come to pass.

Today’s text is filled with a hopeful vision, a promise, of something that will come to reality on the Last Day.

A promise of a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth. God dwelling with His people and His holiness inhabiting the new creation.

God’s promises come to pass, and God’s promises are a central part of Scripture. They are a thread that we can trace through Scripture.

God made covenants of promise with Noah, Abraham, David, and ultimately to us, through Christ.

There are two types of covenants in the Bible. A covenant is a special relationship entered into by two willing parties.

The first type of covenant deals with a master and a subject. To use the theological term it is called a suzerain-vassal covenant. This is the type of covenant that God enters into with Israel.

God is the master Israel is His subjects. A master-subject covenant is characterized by behavioral requirements.

In the ancient world, these kind of covenants were usually made by kings. One king has a big army, the other King has a small army. Rather than being destroyed, the less powerful king says, “hey, I’ll pay you a bunch of money, go to war with you, and follow all the rules you say.”

God makes this type of covenant with Israel. If you are obedient, God says, I will bless you. If you are not, then you will be cursed.

The other type of covenant is a promise covenant. This is a covenant that is based on one party showing grace to another. Making a promise to do something. There might be implied expectations around behavior, but it is a relationship that is marked by generosity.

This is the covenant God makes with Abraham, he says to Abraham, leave the land of your fathers and go to the land I will show you… I will make you into a great nation.

Right, there is an expectation of behavior, but the fulfillment of the promise is assured.

Again, God makes a promise covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7. He promises David that his son will build God a temple, that the line of David shall reign. Implied within this is that David upholds the Law of God, but the promise is not necessarily dependent upon it.

2 Samuel 7 ESV

Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

The book of Revelation is the final piece of the covenant of promise God has made with His people. It is the end, to use a philosophical term, it is the telos, it is the moment that all things, including God’s redemptive plan are moving towards.

This chapter shows us the future hope that is in store for us as Christians.

There is something profoundly comforting in knowing that our future is assured. There is something comforting about knowing that all of this, all of the sin and the brokenness we face, all of the opposition and doubt is moving towards something good.

A new heaven and a new earth.

The promise of this new heaven and new earth coming to pass, inspire hope and invite us to reorient our lives around what is still to come.

Because if we really believe this, if we truly believe that what we have read here today is a real thing, then that changes everything.

If we truly believe that God is coming back, it ought to change the way that we live our lives. If we truly believe that one day every blind eye shall see, every tear shall be wiped from our face, every aching hip and back will be no more, depression and anxiety will no longer reign, there will be no more abuse, or hunger, no more homelessness, sickness, disease or cancer.

That changes everything. That changes the way that we suffer. The future hope of what is still to come invites us to orient our lives in a completely different way.

It does not matter the amount of money in your bank account or the clothes you wear or the car you drive, when the Son of Man comes around, for a second time, none of that is going to matter.

When the Son of Man returns, He is not coming back in a disgusiting feeding trough meant for barn animals, He is not coming back to be beaten, or mocked, or scorned. He is not coming back to be humiliated by mere human hands.

He is coming back in power and in might, a two-edged sword sharp enough to separate bone from flesh and soul from spirit will come forth from His mouth.

The Living logos, the Living Word of God, the Master of the Universe is coming back. Not as a meek and mild carpenter, but as the one who holds the cosmos in His hand.

Riding on a white horse called faithful and true, the King shall return with fire in his eyes, to pay recompense against the Kingdom of Darkness. His crown will not be of thorns, but something far more beautiful than our minds can comprehend.

He will not be paraded through the streets, naked and ashamed as last time. He will be wearing a robe dipped in blood, and the legions and legions of heavenly hosts, all of the armies of heaven shall follow the Son of Man into battle.

The Beast and the armies of the earth shall be no match. When the Man comes around he shall consign them to the lake of burning sulfur, and He shall reign, as He always has, since eternity past, and all things will be set right.

That future promise it changes everything.

If we really believe that to be real. If we actually truly believe that these things will come to pass it has to change everything.

To echo a thought from CS Lewis. Either none of this is real, none of this will happen and it doesn’t matter at all. Or all of this will happen and it is of supreme importance.

The only thing it cannot be is of medium importance.

If you’ve read the book of Revelation you know that lukewarm is not a good thing.

But this future promise invites us to reorient our entire lives around it.

We know that our suffering, we know that our sickness is not final. We know that the new creation will be one in which we are given restored bodies, free from mobility issues, aches and pains.

We know that our eyes will see, better than they ever have before. Our ears shall hear better then we could’ve ever imagined.

This also changes the way that we ought to carry ourselves as Christians. If we actually believe what we have read here today to be true. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

If we really believe that to be true, then we need to carry ourselves with a sense of urgency. There are neighbors, friends, co-workers, hockey team parents, coaches, teachers, family members, who need to know about the gospel.

And we ought not to frame the gospel in such a way that says, “if you don’t believe, well then Jesus is gonna get you.”

Right, we understand that it is God’s love and grace, His wonderful mercy and abundant life that calls us to grace.

And we don’t need to think of sharing the gospel like a sales pitch. We don’t need fancy tactics or pressure people with questions. The way of Jesus involves relationships, it involves leading a life that inspires questions from other people, it involves sharing those stories of God’s faithfulness through the ups and downs of life.

It also means an invitation: why don’t you come over for dinner? Can you make it to church this Sunday, I’ll pick you up? We have a great seniors circle, you should come sometime.

If we really believe what we have read here today to be true, it changes everything. We must carry ourselves with a sense of urgency and we must be willing to stand for truth.

We must be willing to stand for truth against the shifting sands of society. Standing for truth often times costs us something.

The future promise of his return allows us to reorient our lives in such a way that we need not fear standing up for the truth of the gospel, whether it costs our job, our livelihood, or even our life.

Future promises inspire hope, invite us to reorient our lives around what is to come.

The Son of Man is coming here, not the other way around.