City of Light

Before I jump into today’s message, I want to thank Pastor Harold for leading worship last Sunday while I was, as Joanne announced, locked up in prison. Harold’s message on bringing our anxieties to the Lord was excellent and if you happened to miss it, I encourage you to go on the church’s Facebook page and watch it - just not right now.

Before I was locked up, we were moving our way through a series on the book of Revelation, and now that I have been released - we will continue to examine the visions that John, the writer, received.

As a quick recap, we started this series with Jesus’ message to His Church - which is hold on! Don’t grow weary. Keep to the mission. I am coming back!

Then we saw, in John’s vision, a scene of worship in heaven as Jesus, the lamb who was slain, is found worthy to open the scroll of destiny - God’s will for bringing this age in which we live to completion. When we worship, we join in with angelic beings and the saints in heaven to give honor and glory to the king of Kings and Lord of Lords! His will be done, one earth as it is in heaven.

Then two weeks ago, we heard that when we are in Christ, we are Overcomers. Jesus has given us a mission to accomplish - we are to make disciples and spread holiness across the globe. Our time here is not easy, he told us it would be hard, there will be times of tribulation, but He has sealed us as His own. There will come a time when this life is over and we will join all the saints in worship as we await the new heaven and the new earth.

Today, we get a preview of the New heaven and earth.

But first, I need to share with you a bit of my experience behind bars. As most of you are aware, Kerry Walters and I, as part of a team, spent four days last week at the Eastern Correctional Institution (ECI) down in Princess Anne, bringing the light of Christ to 24 inmates through Kairos Prison Ministry. The greatest joy of ministry is to lead someone to the Lord and watch as his or her life is changed. Not always, but often, this is a slow progression. Someone begins coming to church, seeking answers or purpose. They experience the love and friendship of other church members who welcome them into their lives. They may join a Bible Study or small group and begin to grow in their understanding. They may begin volunteering their time to serve as the hands and feet of Christ. All the while the Holy Spirit is at work within them - convicting, loving, inviting. At some point, a decision is made and they recognize a deep joy and peace that they had not held before as the door of their heart is opened for Jesus to enter in. Sometimes, I get to witness the full progression, other times I may be present for a portion of it.

In prison, we see this transformation happen over the course of 3 1/2 days. It is incredible. On Thursday night, 24 men walk in with their walls up. Their demeanor, while respectful, is closed off - do not let anyone get close, keep distant. They don’t know what they signed up for, most admit it they are there just to get out of the cell and do something different. We welcome the residents into a large room where for the next few days, we will spend 8-9 hours a day introducing them to the full gospel message and bestow on them signs of agape (simple gifts that act as signs of God’s love for them). It is an intensive time of discipleship. We come to where they are, to their surprise we eat what they eat (which I would not feed my dog by the way), we withhold all judgment and we do not pry into their past - why they are incarcerated is not our business. We simply love them as Jesus loves them. Meanwhile, we have a community of supporters praying over each man 24/7. Each day, team members give a series of talks and share what Jesus has done in their own lives.

And you want to know what happens?

Walls begin to crumble. Smiles begin to break out. Beliefs begin to change. Darkness gives way to light.

One man at my table, I will call him Jim, big guy, After sitting through the first full day, spoke to his wife on the phone that night and told her that he was in this program and it had him thinking about the choices he had made and the need to think differently. She was surprised and asked him, “so you are going to church now?” He replied, “no, I’m just saying that if I want a better future, I need to make some changes.”

After the second full day, he called his wife again. This time he said to her, “I need to ask you to forgive me for the bad things I’ve put you through and I need to forgive you for things I’ve held against you, so that we can grow and build a better life for our family” She dropped the phone. He was like, “Hello?” She got back on and they talked. Like him, she had no church background, but she had prayed that one day he would let go of all the anger and hurt he had bottled up inside and would be the husband and father their family needed.

On Sunday morning, he was smiling, hugging, and wrote each of us team members at his table a note specifically sharing what he took away from our discussions. He also told me that one day, when he gets out, he and his wife are going to come down to Grace and worship with us some Sunday. I hope that he does.

ECI is a place of captivity and spiritual darkness - and we got to witness God’s light permeate that darkness and lift these men up out of the muck and the mire of childhood trauma and bad decisions, and place their feet on solid ground. We witnessed the in-breaking of God’’s Kingdom. We witnessed the healing, living water of the Spirit of God fill these thirsty souls and bring eternal life. This is not metaphorical, this is reality.

Only Jesus has the power and authority to go into that prison and rescue those men.

Only Jesus has the power and authority to do the same in your life - in your situation.

Which brings us to the reading out of Revelation. What did John see?

Revelation 21:10 “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,”

John is repeating what he first describes in verse 1-2 where we read…

Revelation 21:1–2 “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.”

This is a vision of what is to come when this age comes to a close and Jesus has returned. What is this holy city that comes down from God? This bride prepared for her husband?

This is not brick and mortar. What John is seeing is the Church - the bride of Christ. This is the Old Testament saints, the apostles, the disciples of Jesus throughout the last 2000 years and this is you and me. The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, is the Body of Christ.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians church and gave instruction on how husbands and wives should live, he described how married couples are a sign pointing to the marriage of Christ and his Church.

Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Now Jesus has returned and his bride is being presented to Him, purified by God’s grace, coming down from heaven.

Revelation 19:6–8 ESV

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Let’s look closer at how John describes the Church that has been purified. John says that the “sea is no more.” In the ancient world, the sea represented chaos - which makes sense when you think of sailors being tossed around on a boat when a storm appeared and the waves churned, or when large sea creatures broke through the surface. In the new heaven and the new earth, there is no chaos. The unexpected storms of life that threaten to capsize you no longer exist. There is peace and order.

Revelation 21:22 “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”

The Jewish Temple, and even before the first Temple was built by Solomon, there was the Tabernacle - was the place where God was known to dwell with his people. His holy presence was there - but because of the sin of the people, both within the Tabernacle and the Temple, the Arc of the Covenant, which was the Mercy Seat of God, was separated from the people by a curtain. For a sinful person to see God was to die. Only one person could ever enter the holy of holies, and that was the high priest - but even then, that was once a year and after offering sacrifices to atone for his sin.

In this vision, John shows us that, in the words of Michael Wilcox,..

The Message of Revelation 3. The Second Revelation: God’s Dwelling (21:22–27)

In the heavenly Jerusalem there is no need of a temple, because merely to be in the city is to be with him. His glory pervades every nook and cranny of it

This is also the reality of every Christian today.

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Every nook and cranny of our being should be filled with God’s glory - but sadly, we tend to shove our junk in the closets and corners of our hearts instead of taking them to the cross. While God’s intent is to fully alive in us, we hinder ourselves by clinging onto our sins.

One day, however, we will see and talk to God face to face, unshamed, and our sin will completley absent. In the new heaven and earth, John says there won’t be a need for a sun to shine or for artificial light to illuminate the night.

Remember this story from Matthew 17:1-2?

Matthew 17:1–2 ESV

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

In the age to come, Jesus will be our light - there will be no darkness. We will all walk in His truth.

Again, this is the aim of the gospel message - that we would walk in truth and light, not deceived, not stumbling around in the dark.

One day, God’s light will penetrate every part of His holy city - God and man will be so close, so aligned, that his truth will guide our every step, our every word, our every action.

The walls and gates of the city - which again is the Church - are the boundaries in which we safely live. When we live in holiness, following the Way of Jesus, we are citizens of heaven.

Jesus, through this vision to John, is reminding us that holiness and salvation go hand and hand. Unholy living - all the stuff we are used to seeing everyday, will not be found in the New Creation.

Isaiah 60:18 “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.”

Lastly, we find the river of life flowing through the City.

John 4:14 “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

This is the living water Kerry and I saw fill up the 24 residents of ECI. This is the living water I have witnessed flow here at Grace. This is the movement of the Holy Spirit - flowing, filling, satisfying, healing, renewing. This is God redeeming His precious children.

John’s vision shows us not only what is to come, but what can be right now as we surrender all to Jesus and participate in the work of sanctification.

Let us pray:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill us with your living water. Wash away all our inequities, purify us from all our sin. May we possess your peace and calm, even in the storms and chaos of life. Jesus, help us to walk in the light of your truth and prepare us for day when we will see you face to face.

Amen.