Easter 6 - Revelation 21

Christians are a population of the joyful! There is joy set before us in what we are to receive in eternity. There is joy that is ours now.
Today is Mother's Day. On this day that we honor our mothers we can affirm that moms are a population of the joyful. Just look at our Gospel lesson from last week; there was a reminder of the joy in bearing children. Moms-to-be are filled with joy when they learn that the new “bundle of joy” is soon to be born. New moms, that is to say, a mom who has just birthed her child is filled with joy because of the child resting in her arms. And then, moms as they grow in years and experience are filled with joy as they watch their children grow and mature even into adulthood. Because of God's good gift of children, and because moms love their children so much, moms are people of joy.
If God gives joy in motherhood, then he especially gives joy to Christians, to His people of faith. Christians are a people, a population of the joyful. Christians have joy now, today, because of the new life of faith that we have received in Jesus. We are baptized people of God. We have been resurrected and raised from the death of sin into a new life that cannot perish spoil or fade. The scriptures tells us that we will live forever. We will never die! How can we not be filled with joy?
But the joy of faith, the joy that is ours today, it is only a shadow, a small down payment of the joy that will be ours in eternity when our bodies are raised on the last day and when we see Jesus with our own eyes, face to face, to walk hand in hand. The joy that we have now will seem small and insignificant when compared to the joy that will come at the return of Christ in Glory. Our Easter hope is that this fullness of joy is our promised inheritance, it will be ours. The days of small joy are limited. The days of overflowing joy are soon to come and they will be amazing!
Last week in our sermon we mentioned that the church lives in a world where our joy often seems diminished by the trials and the troubles of this world. While we know that we have received the promise of a perfect joy we at times wonder where that joy has gone, if it is truly ours today, and if it is, what's happened to it? There are many things that bring suffering and sadness to us even in spite of the joy that is ours in Jesus; sickness and death, at times there is persecution and the hatred of the world, sadness and grief, these things seem to get in the way of our joy.
Our good and loving God and our savior Jesus knows that we face these challenges to our joy, he knows that these things would try to rob us even of our faith and make us doubt whether they really are true. And so, for our encouragement he has given to us this letter in the Scriptures, the Book of Revelation. Revelation is the message of the Risen and Ascended Christ, our Savior and Brother who sits enthroned in heaven and who oversees us in our tribulation. He knows that we are suffering and he wants us to be encouraged in our faith and he wants us to hold out for the hope and the joy that he has promised to give. Revelation is God's promise that the Lamb of God who died for this sins of the world is that same Almighty God and Lord who has been given all authority in heaven and earth. And he has reserved for us this vision that we see in our text.
It is like a mother who tells her son about the present she bought him for his birthday. It's bought and paid for. It belongs to him and no one else. The gift is just simply waiting until his birthday arrives and he will have it to use and enjoy. Heaven is ours, bought and paid for, its just waiting for the date to arrive before we can fully enjoy it. Our text is like mom pulling the present out of its hiding place and showing it off to her son so he can see it and enjoy it before his birthday arrives.
The joy of the Christian life is heaven. Our text is a description of heaven.
An angel carries John in the Spirit to a great and high mountain where he can look down on the image Christ has prepared. “Come,” says the angel, “I will show you the Bride, the wife of the lamb.” John looks and he sees a city. The new Jerusalem.
This is puzzling. From the words of the angel, John is going to see a woman. The wife of the lamb. And then, when John describes what he sees, it is not a woman or indeed a person, instead it is a city. A city with 12 gates, and 12 foundations. A city who has great and high walls but that never shuts her gates. A city formed from precious jewels, yet as clear as crystal. A city whose streets are paved with gold, yet are transparent like glass. These images don't seem to mesh, they seem to contradict each other. They don't seem like they can all be true. A bride, but a city. Colored like jewels yet clear. Gold yet transparent.
This apparent contradiction gets us to the very nature of the book of Revelation. It relies heavily on symbols. It uses images that John's audience would have understood and appreciated, but that 2000 years later seem confusing and obscure. But, when we take the time to decipher Johns picture we see a profound message of beauty and hope as we await from our Savior and Lord the eternal joy that he has promised us as the heirs of faith.
Again, John sees the Bride, the wife of the lamb. What John sees is the church. The people of God, both Old Testament and New, (as indicated by the apostles and the patriarchs). All of God's people are there, every last one. No one is left out, no one is forgotten, no one has missed the train or got off before their stop. Everyone is present and accounted for. That message alone is encouraging – sometimes the challenges of the Christian life and faith can be overwhelming. We wonder if we are going to make it. There are times we feel like we are about to loose it, like the whole thing is going to fall apart, like the wheels are going to come off. This vision of the new Jerusalem offers to us the promise that Jesus will not let us slip away. We are a part of the vision. We are a part of the promise. It is ours!
John sees a city. And the city is large. Our text skips over the verses where the angel measures the dimensions of the city. John would have us to understand that every single person is present and accounted for. No one is left out, and the population is vast. Even though it seems like we are the only ones holding out and faithfully holding on to the Word of God, we are not alone. We will have plenty of company in heaven. And what is striking about the dimensions given to John is the fact that the measure out to be a perfect cube – the depth the width and the height are the same. This tells us of God's perfection. He wants every detail measured out just so. But more than that and better than that, these dimensions are reminiscent of the holy of holies in the temple – the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and the place that was the location of the holy presence of God. It too was a perfect cube.
The Holy of Holies in the Old Testament temple was a place that no one was allowed to enter. Only once a year and even then there was a risk. Sinful people in the presence of a holy God run the risk of death. We are kept from God's presence because of our sin. But here in heaven that has all changed! The Holy of Holies isn't a single room, where no one is allowed to go. It's a whole city large enough to accommodate every one. The entire population of heaven lives in God's Holy presence!
And that city is beautiful. Its walls are constructed from precious metals and stones – gold and amethyst and pearl and jasper. Rather than being literal construction materials for a literal city these are indications of how God values each of us. Precious and valuable and beautiful, and at the same time pure, clear like crystal and transparent. The sin that clouds and tarnishes is gone. All that remains is our God given beauty!
The city has walls and gates. Walled cities are powerful cities – strong and mighty. The bigger and the higher the walls, the stronger the defense. And the gates, those gates are designed to let the people in. Gates are shut when there are people who need to be kept out. Enemies, people who will destroy or corrupt your city. The gates of heaven are never shut. They are open all the time. God has no enemies in heaven. His people have no need to fear. God's enemies have been defeated and done away with. There are none.
The nations of the earth bring their glory. All of our glory and splendor and majesty is only a tribute paid to the true King and the true glory of The Lamb who sits on the throne.
And living in the center of the city is the Lamb who is at once the city's king and the city's light.
All of this is as much as if to say that the Garden of Eden has been restored. The perfect world that God first made, that he created, that was perfect and that was lost has been put back together. God's people are present and accounted for. God's people are perfect and without sin. God's people live in safety and security. God people are safe and set free from every single enemy and hardship. There is no suffering. There is no death. There is no hardship. There is no sickness or disease. There is joy. There is only joy.
There are times that people want to say that the hardships we experience in this life help us to appreciate the good things all the more. I don't think this is true. Because it would mean that the good wasn't really all that good, that is if you need to be reminded that it's good. In heaven the good is good. The great is great. The joy is joy. And there is nothing that takes away from it.
And the whole thing hangs together around Jesus. Jesus who loves, who lived, who died, who ascended, who reigns who will return. All of these things are his gift that he has built and that he will give. This vision of beauty is Jesus' gift to John to be passed on to you as a reminder and a promise to encourage you in your faith. This is the hope and promise of the Christian faith!
Amen.