The City of Blinding Light

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

Revelation 21:22–22:5 NRSV

22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

The City of Blinding Light

U2, 2004 “How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb”

Inspired by London, New York City.

The city of cities, where hope and promise and new life meet. Our modern cities are but a glimmer, a tarnished spectacle, of the promise of God’s great city, the city where we come home.

… The more you see, the less you know The less you find out as you go I knew much more then Than I do now

… Neon-heart, day-glow eyes A city lit by fireflies They're advertising in the skies For people like us

… And I miss you when you're not around I'm getting ready to leave the ground

… Oh, you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights

… Don't look before you laugh Look ugly in a photograph Flash bulbs, purple irises The camera can't see

… I've seen you walk unafraid I've seen you in the clothes you made Can you see the beauty inside of me? What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?

… And I miss you when you're not around I'm getting ready to leave the ground

… Oh, you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights

… Time, time, time, time, time Won't leave me as I am But time won't take the boy out of this man

… Oh, you look so beautiful tonight Oh, you look so beautiful tonight Oh, you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights

… The more you know, the less you feel Some pray for, others steal Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel Luckily

There is no temple — God is the temple

Remember, Jesus has promised to go ahead and prepare a place for us. He has also promised that the temple of God would no longer dwell in the high place, but instead in us. This picture further fulfills these promises — now God, the temple which lives in us, now dwells among us and we in God. The city is a perfected image of what it means to live in the light of God — light in all things.

The doors and gates are never shut by day, and there is no night

Next we hear that the city’s gates and doors are never shut. There is no drawbridge that gets pulled up, there are no guards at the gates, keeping trespassers from entering. The doors are unlocked and open.

Do you hear this — the gatekeepers are gone. The city is open. And those who enter bring glory and honor.

Why do we have borders and gates and open and closed hours? Because there are certain protocols and processes for how we conduct business and exchange. And we have these protocols in order to protect our investments, for safe keeping of the things we value.

Something happens here, though. In this great city of welcome and light, it seems as though there is nothing that can be hidden, nothing that can detract or conflict with the sole purpose of all who enter — to give glory and honor to the light, glory and honor to the creator, glory and honor to God.

The River and the Tree

As if to follow up with a number of the readings we have done in this book of the Revelation, now John turns our imaginations back to the river of the water of life and the tree of life.

We have previously heard that God quenches the thirst of God’s people with the water of life. But, with our assumption of the world’s scarcity, perhaps we wonder if that water will run out.

Thankfully, we hear that in this city, the river of life flows through. We’re not talking about a seasonal stream or a brook that dries up in the heat of the summer. No, the image here is something of grand proportions. Think of a large flowing river. Think of its power and plentitude. Not a lake, which drains and has finite resources based on snow pack. No, this is something wholly other, something complete. The water of life flows and flows and flows and flows. Thirst is quenched, again and again, by it.

Then there is the tree. Perhaps you’ve heard it said that the arc of Scripture goes from a garden to a city. (I’ve said that before, it’s a common way of how we imagine the totality of the biblical story.) And it does.

But also, here, we see that the story goes from a tree, to a tree.

Not just one tree to another.

But the narrative arc of the biblical scriptures is littered with tree images. We find the Garden of Eden and the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have images throughout the Old Testament of faithfulness being like a tree planted with healthy and deep roots. We also hear of faithlessness and disruption talked about like a tree being cut down, the empty stump left to die. And we hear of a root springing up from that tree cut off, the root of Jesse, the spring of hope that is Jesus. Then, we watch Jesus go through his ministry and speak of trees for images of God’s provision and also the scarcity of the world. We speak of Jesus’ crucifixion as a death on a tree — the rough hewn cross is the tree of torture and death.

And now, as we’ve weaved to the end of the story, we find once again the tree of life. But this time, it’s not just the tree of life in the garden, it is the tree on both sides of the river, spreading out and providing in abundance what God’s people need — healing. Fruit grows on the branches year round — to accompany the river of life. The twelve kind of fruit — again we find the fullness of God’s people, yielding life to all.

Leaves for the healing of the nations — medicine?

And then we reach one of my most favorite biblical images, one of the most powerful and hopeful ideas I have found. The leaves on this tree of life — they are for the healing of the nations.

This tree of life and the river of the water of life bring sustenance for the people who eat and drink from them. Healing and wholeness come from these.

What do we do when we are healthy and whole? We help others to be healthy and whole.

As we know, we can read these texts to be incredibly exclusive and hyper-focused on “us” and those “like us.”

But reading this text from the viewpoint that only the insiders get access to the good stuff misses a key point and this is it: when the people of God receive healing, they also seek to heal and help others. So, from the tree of life, healing leaves go out to bind up and repair all people’s hurting and meet all the peoples needs.

It’s important that the next line here is says “nothing accursed will be found there any more.”

We read this like it means that all that curses, all that makes us afflicted or ill or hurt or addicted is somehow banished from this place and therefore it is “no more.”

But the way this reads is that the leaves of the tree are meant to heal the nations…and therefore, nothing accursed is left. These phrases are connected, they have a causal relationship. Because the leaves heal the nations, there is nothing accursed left.

Asher, my son, took a pretty solid fall on his bike yesterday. He got a pretty deep cut on his knee. But you know what, we know how to help that heal. So we cleaned it up, washed it, used hydrogen peroxide (the spicy water) and bandaged it. And he is healing. The curse of his injury is healing. We didn’t banish him to deal with his struggle on his own. We didn’t sever his leg to get rid of the scratch. No, we brought healing where he needed it.

Servants worship and give glory to God

And the natural response of all who enter these walls, all who receive the grace of this city — they respond with joy, celebration, and worship.

Like refugees, finding a home after their war torn journeys.

Like cancer patients, finally getting the all clear that the treatments have worked.

Like the grandmother, who breathes her last after years of fighting back dementia.

Like the runner, who crosses the finish line and breathes a sigh of relief.

Our natural response, our healthy reply, to finding safety and shelter, is to let go and breathe again.

To worship and give glory to God is to breathe in the life that we are meant to live. It means to exhale in joy and inhale in trust.

God’s name will be on their foreheads — we will remember who we belong to and rejoice in it.

And no more will we wander. No more will we lack clarity of purpose. God, who dwells among us, will be our light, a light that never goes out, but constantly marks our way.

Closing

We will close this study of the Revelation next week. We will hear the final words of blessing and benediction from this letter of hope.

For today, I simply want us to keep cultivating an imagination for the immense goodness of this text. It is filled with hope, promise, and a good and perfect end, wrapped up in God’s love.

So, how might you need to heal? How might you need to find this relief? Could you, today, dare to dream and believe that this incredible promise is for you? Could you, today, see how the fruit and the water are meant to be shared, to be offered freely as it is offered to you freely? Could you tell the stories of how the healing balm of the trees has set you free and is, as well, on generous offer for the nations to be healed?

This is a vision for the great end of things. The end as in the closing act. But also, the end as in the ultimate purpose, the telos, the trajectory of God’s good, restoring way among us, for us, calling us, blessing us. And healing creation.

Can you taste it? Can you live it? That is our work together here. To taste and see and know, with our whole selves, that God is good.

Amen.