07 5th Sunday of Easter Revelation 21.1-6

            1 Peter 3:15 tells us to always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.  So my question for you this morning is this; What is our hope?  What is the hope that is in you? 

            In Jesus, we have life and forgiveness, salvation and we enjoy the presence of our God.  Now it may be tempting to say that our hope is knowing that we will go to heaven when we die.  And I would say that is not how the scriptures speak.  To be sure, it is a perk.  But that is not the final destination so to speak.  For the scriptures speak of the hope that is in us as being the hope for restoration and resurrection.  It is not just about being with Jesus when we die, although I’m sure that will be wonderful, but is knowing that the life we have is eternal and we will live that life with our God on a new earth under a new heaven, in resurrected bodies that are no longer tainted by sin, that are no longer touchable by death, that will never again get sick or suffer or hurt.  It is a hope that is bigger and better than the benefit of being with Jesus after we die, because it is a hope that promises life not just after death, but before it as well.

            Of course this is a very difficult thing to write about.  How do you describe something that there are no words to explain?  I mean even when there are words to describe something, it can be difficult for everyone to come up with the same picture. 

            Let’s try this with a little illustration.  I have a picture.  I will describe to you and I want you to draw it.  I promise you will not be graded on your abilities to draw, and no one else has to see it.  So get some paper and a pencil, and let’s see if we come up with the same image.  Ready? 

            This picture is a headshot.  So go down to about here.  It is a ruggedly good looking gentleman.  His hair is nicely cut and laying down to the side.  He has a beard and it is well trimmed.  He has on a suit coat, that from a distance appears to be a solid black, but upon closer inspection it has an almost plaid pattern to it.  His eyes are bright and his smile is so full of joy that you cannot help but smile back.  Ok.  Are you ready?  Do you need a moment to finish up?  Now let’s compare what you drew to the real thing.  How did you do? 

            It is not an easy task is it?  Now imagine trying to explain something for which there are no words to explain it.  How do you explain a God who is beyond words?  So John gives us pictures, because a picture is worth a thousand words, and those pictures communicate to us what John wants us to know. 

            So what does John communicate to us with his pictures?  Let’s look at the text.  Go ahead and grab your celebrates and let’s look at that second reading.  John writes, “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.”  There is that hope that we talked about the restoration and the resurrection.  This is a major theme in the scriptures.  That there will be a time when the brokenness and the despair, when death and sin and the devil are defeated and gone, and everything is made new.  It is restored.  Can you imagine?  There will be a new heaven and a new earth for the first have passed away.  Now, we want to be careful that we don’t not get distracted by the logistics of this.  We are not told how it will happen, we are not told what it will look like.  But we know that it will be new.  The lack of a sea goes back to the beginning of the book when there was a sea separating John from the throne of God.  With the sea gone, there will be nothing separating us from our God.  Since the sea also represented those forces that were against God and creation, the lack of sea is a sign of God’s total and complete victory. 

            Another picture then comes into view, “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  The scriptures often use marriage as an analogy for the relationship that God has with his people.  This is why it is important for us to hold that relationship with the highest regard.  And so it comes up again here in our text.  The thing that is emphasized here  is that it is God who makes a people for himself.  We don’t make ourselves the people of God.  In the culture of John’s day, it wasn’t the groom who prepared the bride, it was the family who did that.  So the emphasize is on God’s work in making his people his own.  Are you beginning to see how this all comes together?  It is really exciting isn’t it?  I love this.

            And then I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;”  Where we would want a description of the source of the voice, John simply tells us it is from the throne, that is from the one who is sitting on that throne.  That is God almighty.  And the declaration that is made is one that is huge.  In the past God’s presence in the midst of his people has been made know in different ways. There was the tabernacle in the days of Moses.  The temple in the days of Solomon. There is the altar in our day.  But here in this new creation, God is not just in their midst, but his home is among people.  Look! Look! The text exclaims.  The home of God is among people.  He is there as their God and the people are there as his people. 

            Now since we are dealing with something that is beyond words, it is easier to describe what is not there, than it is to describe what is there.  There will be no more tears, or death or mourning or crying or pain.  For these things were part of the first world, but now they have passed away.  This is unimaginable, this is our hope.  We can take this to the bank.  How do we know this?  Verse five tells us that these words are trustworthy and true.  Our God is making all things new.  

            Can you see the strength and comfort and encouragement that comes from these verses.? They are really a nice summary of what the entire book of Revelation is all about.  Because this book is not about the end of the world.  Although that is mentioned.  Rather this is a book that is an encouragement to remain faithful in the midst of persecution.  In the midst of the storms and trials in life.  In the face of the things that cause us to cry out Why, O Lord?  Why?  In those times This book reminds us that though those things may overwhelm us, they cannot, and will not overcome our God. 

            The book of Revelation is a book of worship.  For it is centered on the awesome of acts of God, and especially the salvation that he won for us through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And so it is out of that incredible event that our God is worshiped.  Our God pours out his love and grace and mercy into our lives.  He forgives us and nourishes us, with his word, and his very body and blood.  And it is out of that we give our God worship and praise, honor and glory.  And the book of Revelation is a book that reminds us that it will not be long before our Lord returns, so we should do the work that he has given us to do, while we have the time to do it. 

            Do you see how the pieces of this picture are fitting together.  It really is beyond words.  It is truly awesome and will leave you full of awe.  It is something that brings us to worship and praise and give thanks to our Great and Awesome God. 

            This life that we have with our God does not begin with our death.  Rather it began at our baptism.  We are not talking about a life that is only after death, but we are talking about a life before death.  We have it right now.   Not in all of its fullness.  But we have it.  We live now in God’s kingdom.  We experience his presence in our lives.  And we get to live that out. 

The hope that we have saturates our lives and moves us to great actions in faith.  We do this with confidence because we know that the work that we do, we are doing for our God.  We don’t do it to show off how great we are.  We don’t do it to show off our talents.  But we do it because of how great our God is and because he has given us the honor of being a part of the work that he is doing in this place. 

God is here and he is active.  Don’t be a passive observer.  But be an active participant in this whole thing.  We who are the body of Christ, have been called by God and placed into this community to share that awesome hope he has given to us, with those who do not know that.  We live out God’s Kingdom here in our midst.  We can be a community marked by grace and love and forgiveness.  We can be a community that grows and challenges one another to grow, both spiritually and physically.  We can be a community that lives with and loves one another because we know that we have a God who lives with and loves us.

            All this we have because our God who loves us so much that he became a human being, suffered, died and rose again.  In him is life, and that life is eternal.  It is a life that is before death, and not just after it.   It is a life that moves us to say, “Our God is truly awesome and worthy of our praise and thanks and the very best that we have to offer.”  God bless us as we live in the hope that he has given to us.  A hope that is beyond words.  Now and always.  Amen.