SCRIPTURE: Reservation 21:1-6
TEXT: 3And 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. THEME: In Heaven God comes to dwell with us. INTRODUCTION Our Easter sermon series began with Jesus as the first born of the dead-on Easter Day. We see the effects of the resurrection as Peter chooses to obey the voice of the Lord instead of the institutionalized Judaism. Paul has his eyesight restored because Ananias applied his faith to do what God asked him to do. Tabitha has a story of the resurrection that gives further evidence of God’s power over death. Today we have a vision of our resurrected lives and what it means in heaven. SCRIPTURE Certainly, Revelation is not meant to be taken literally. But with broad stokes, its images are painted and emote feelings of the things to come. The bombed out multi storied apartment building stands as a monument of the violence that Russia has inflicted upon Ukraine. And into this scene, we see from heaven, a New Jerusalem and a new Earth descend. The unspoken pronouncement, that is being made as God comes to dwell among humans, is that “the Earth is good” and that “we are good”. God has always wanted to live with us. With all of the work in creating, God is found in the garden with the humans. Even after we are expelled from the garden God still travels intimately with the family of Abraham and Sara. In the incarnation, God becomes flesh and blood in baby Jesus and is brought up in a family, cared for by humans, lives in the village of Nazareth and ministers in the countryside of Galilee. And now God gives John a vision of a New Heaven and a New Earth descending from the heavens for the old has passed away and the sea is no more. The sea and the Jews don’t get along. There is a leviathan down there, and whenever they get in a boat there is a ship wreck, a storm or violent wind. The sea represents fear and the unknown. The unknown and fear are gone in the new Heaven and new Earth. For our CTEL class on Biblical Interpretation, Jeffery Acido, had us answer the question, “Where is home?” Of course, it is where we grew up. But as we answered this question every day, our understanding of ‘home’ got expanded., Mom and Dad and siblings. Eating Stuffed Aburage and Kau yuk, where my family is. My wife and kids. Where I feel that I belong. “See the home of God is among mortals.” We are not an abomination. We are not distasteful; we are not an affront. We are loved, we are accepted, we are treasured and part of God’s definition of home. The earth will be under new management. God’s ways, no tears, no death, no pain, new things. German theologian Jurgen Moltmann writes dense theological theories. Wading through his writing takes considerable determination and dedication. I just saw a video interview of him and he said; “God is a broad place of freedom. where we can find meaning of life. And discover how to become new.” I don’t know if that is representative of Moltmann but this is another way for us to consider heaven. APPLICATION Not taking this passage too literally, we see in verse 1 that the new heaven and the new earth are here on earth. And we, as the people of God, are here on earth. God is here dwelling among us on earth. That is the main thing about heaven, God is dwelling with us. What difference does the resurrection make in Heaven? Living with God as a roommate is going to be new. Not with rules, but with love; having common courtesy, minding what we do with respect for each other. Washing our dishes, keeping the common spaces clean. Putting the toilet seat down, picking up our clothes, and putting our things away. Not eating what does not belong to us. We live in loving ways because our roommate loves us. Little wonder that there is marriage language in this passage as we become partners in life, creation, stewardship and mission. Living with God as a roommate is going to be crazy. God working through us to do amazing things in our world. If we take Ukraine as the example, being able to rebuild after Russia leaves, will be like a new earth and new heaven. It will take the international community to do this work, to bring about the return of families, to heal the brokenness, to comfort those who grieve and to replant fields of hope. After the old is past and the new will be built in its place. This vision of heaven is relational, with God, with in community, living as covenantal partners sharing and enhancing each other’s life. The eternal God has not given up on humanity or Earth. We are both resilient, redeemable and enjoyable. If this is where God’s investment is, then here too is where our efforts of reform, reconciliation, redemption and rebuilding should be at home in us. So here is the kicker, since Revelation is not to be taken literally, but drawn with broad strokes, maybe the new heaven and new earth is the church. The home where God dwells among the mortals. As the place where we feel and express God’s broad place of freedom, find meaning in life and discover what it means to be ‘New”. CONCLUSION The new heaven and new earth is not an adjustment, it is a major shift. We are just coming out of the COVID pandemic and are finding that some of the adjustments that we have made will be permeant shifts. A million lives have been lost in the United States alone. That is equivalent to the population of one of our major cities. We lost our socialization, we lost our security, we lost our freedom and are still haunted by COVID’s return. The Resurrection brings new dynamic to our understanding of life, death and God that shapes our living today. The encouragement of Revelation is not to wait for the by and by, but to know God finds a home among us and so we are to live into the new heaven and the new earth today, as the church where God is a broad place of freedom, where we can find meaning of life and discover how to be new.
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