A New Heaven and A New Earth A Sermon

A New Heaven and a New Earth
Acts 11:1-18/ Revelation 21: 1-6/ John 13: 31-35
5th Sunday of Easter/ Year C/ May 2. 2010

It is not very often that I choose to preach from the Revelation of John. It is a difficult book to read and to understand because it uses images and metaphors that are alien to us. But whenever this text comes around in the lectionary every three years in Eastertide, I am always drawn to the image of the New Heaven and the New Earth that John describes. It is quite different from the stories and images held by many people in our world today. There are those who read into the words of John disastrous portents of the end of the world. They imagine a great rapture when the true faithful will be taken away and the earth and all that is in it will be destroyed. In their minds eye, they imagine a place filled with great treasures and beautiful streets where people will live with out fear of death, sorrow or affliction. But in reality John’s Revelation is book designed not to frighten and terrorize people, but to offer them comfort and hope in the midst of the life they find themselves living.
In the cosmology or worldview held by most people, Heaven is an eternal place, a place where the streets are paved with gold and the heavenly hosts sing the praises of God, a place where nothing ever changes, death has been banished and life is eternal. While on earth things change, people are born and die, historical periods come and go, entire civilizations and cultures disappear, and species become extinct. Death is intimately connected with life. In heaven, at least in our imaginings of it, one is spared such ups and downs of life and the sorrows that come with them. This is not the image that John portrays for us. The clear antithesis between the eternal realm ( heaven) and the imperfect earth is gone. In John’s Revelation the heaven and earth of this age must pass away before all things are made new. Heaven and earth in these texts are not separate realities but are intimately related to one another. Events I heaven determine what happens on earth, and vice versa.
In John’s Revelation, Heaven is plainly and simply the place where God is. This is the most important detail: Heaven is the place where God is and humans are fully united with God.
“See the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them:
They will be his people
And God himself will be with them;
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
Mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
For the first things have passed away.”

The vision disclosed by John in this lesson reveals the true end or goal of life, the destiny of creation is not destruction, but life; life taken into the life of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. This City, this new Jerusalem will be a place of life, of living waters, of bounteous food, and beauty, everything that was will be changed, transformed and healed, not obliterated. Within this new Earth, there will be no more Sea. The Sea in Revelation, represented the chaos out of which the world was created, it was the home of leviathan, the great monster of the deep; the dragon. It represents all that separates humans from one another and from God. Here in this new creation God and humankind live in harmonious relationship with one another. In this text John provides us with a stunning picture of the living God dwelling among us through the Spirit’s power. In this description of the New Creation, the people, who were in the midst of great persecution by the authorities, both religious and secular, found hope.
In this vision, John invites us to sit down in front of it, taking in all that he shows about it. That way, when it is time for us to stand up again, we may be able to move on from whatever devastating place we have been, strengthened with the knowledge that something new and different lies ahead. With the vision of the New Jerusalem fixed firmly in our minds as the place where the God we love and worship stands right beside us, we can continue walking until we arrive at that city where God makes God’s home among us.
John’s words are important to us as individuals particularly if we are grieving the death of a loved one. The promises in this text are not just for those of us in the pews, but also for those who have gone on before us. They are for everyone who longs for assurance that there is a place where death and mourning, crying and pain, will be no more- not for any of us ever again.
In a world where many people think that the worst thing that could happen to them is death, these words are a vital message of hope. Whether death comes early or late, slowly or suddenly, it is not the worst thing that can happen to those who join the heavenly host. In the second book of the Harry Potter series; Harry asks Dumbledore if he is afraid of death. Dumledore’s reply was, “No, For me death is but the beginning of the next great adventure.” Even in the end we find the beginning; The first and the last. Heaven literally comes to earth, radically renewing what God has created. In the process all life on earth is restored to God’s intent for it.
The words we hear today in Revelation have the power to become life altering words for God’s people, especially for those who find themselves in the midst of struggle and turmoil. “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.! These are the words that matter at the very heart of life, where we ask who we are, who God is, and what is the value of the Christian life. It says that there will be a new day when we live face to face with God. All that has hindered, hurt, and hampered us will be gone. What will be left is a life with God, filled with relationships of Joy, love, peace, and strength with God’s people. “Behold, I am making all things new.” We need imaginations nourished by the word and made real by the Spirit so that we can truly live out Jesus’ command to his disciples, to love one another and He has loved us. The reconciliation of heaven and earth is rooted in that never ending love of for all of creation. Rejoice and Be Glad. We are Easter People!