Imagine

Introduction

In 1971 John Lennon wrote a song called Imagine.

Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us, only sky Imagine all the people Livin' for today Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion, too Imagine all the people Livin' life in peace

For John Lennon it was easier to try and pretend to live in world where there are no wars, no borders, no killing or dying.

Who would not want to live in such a world?

We long for such a world - world filled with peace, a world where there is no sickness, a world without hate.

However, in order for John Lennon’s world to come about we must do away with religion.

We must do away with a belief in God.

We must forget about hell and heaven - those silly ideas that only weird or mentally unstable people believe in.

In fact, John Lennon would probably agree that one of the reasons why there is hate in this world, death, and lack of peace is because people insist on believing in some sort of religion.

John Lennon would have liked for humanity to abandon belief in God and embrace atheism - which refers to people that do not believe in God.

The problem with this idea is that atheism does not solve anything.

In fact, people suffer much more under an atheistic government than people who life under a government where people have the freedom of religion - just ask elderly Chinese or Cuban Christians of how much they’ve suffered under their communist atheistic governments.

The Bible is much more honest about the true state of the world.

The Bible does not call people to live in a state of denial where they pretend everything is write and if we simply believe or imagine then all that’s wrong with the world will simply be solved if we have enough willpower or do our best to manifest a life full of joy and peace.

Christianity teaches us an honest worldview where we realize the true state of how things are in this world and where all this is heading.

In Revelation 7 John sees all of God’s people from all nations, tribes, and peoples singing before God’s presence.

Apocalipsis 7:9 ESV

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Towards the end of the chapter they sing to God a beautiful song - it is beautiful because it offers real hope instead of the childish wishful thinking of John Lennon’s imagine.

Apocalipsis 7:16–17 ESV

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Those who have died and are now in God’s presence since this song.

They song of a day where God’s people:

Will never be hungry or thirsty.

Where we shall not suffer from the sun or scorching heat.

Where the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) will be our shepherd and will guide us to springs of living water.

Where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

This means that God’s people recognize that as long as we live:

We shall face physical and emotional needs.

There are times that we shall go without because we simply do not have the means to take care of every single need we have. Many of us first or second generations in the U.S., have seen the hardship that our parents face as they struggle with limited finances.

There are times when we will face health struggles and we are no longer able to function as we once did either due to chronic illness or old age.

There are times when we feel isolated, when we feel like life is passing by and we have not reached our goals. We may feel as if everyone has figured out their life except us - we work hard and we never seem to get ahead.

There are times when we may face the struggles of war, financial collapse, or worldwide pandemics.

The Bible is honest and recognizes that human suffering is part of what it means to be alive.

You can cover your eyes and ears and pretend suffering is not real - but guess what, suffering is real.

We shall shed many, many tears.

I am sure that everyone in this room has shed tears at some point.

We are not super humans…we pretend to have it all figured out, we try to put on a very confident image around others - but in the end we realize how much suffering hurts and pains our soul.

We’ve cried or have seen others shed tears as they realize things are going from bad to worse.

And although we realize that we are not alone and that God’s presence is with us in the midst of suffering - we must confess that we’ve been driven to shed many tears on more than one occasion.

But listen to God’s promise:

He will wipe away every tear from your eyes.

You will shed many tears on in this life.

Suffering is real, the struggle is real - but trust in God as he will get you through any hurt, any struggle, any trial or tribulation.

Trust in God in all your circumstances.

…there will come a day in his presence where every tear we’ve shed, he will wipe away from our eyes as we worship our savior in his presence for all eternity.