Today we hear from the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation
22. And as the kids would say, “Spoiler
Alert!” The Bible tells us how it all
ends, at least for us who are in Christ.
It’s the happiest of endings, an eternal destiny of blessings and good
things. The church in her glory, after
this creation melts away and the new heaven and new earth are revealed, what a
day that will be!
But before we can really appreciate the end, we have to go
back to the beginning. Because the last
chapter of the Bible closes the loop that begins in Genesis, with creation and
the fall. So let’s remind ourselves how
it all started.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth. “Let there be light” he said, and
so there was. Let there be everything,
he spoke it all into creation, and so it was.
Finely ordered. Flawless and
good. Then he made man in his own image,
out of the dust, and the woman, likewise out of Adam’s rib. And only then, with the crown of his
creation, human beings, did God declare everything to be “very good”.
He put them in a garden.
A lush paradise full of good things to eat and pleasing to the
senses. An orderly place he had prepared
just for them. And there was a tree at
the center of it all – the tree of life – if you eat form it you live
forever. And so they would have. So they could have. But soon it all went wrong.
There was this other tree, the only one forbidden, and to
eat of it brought knowledge of good and evil.
To eat of it was death. So God
warned them.
Because a serpent slithered in, casting seeds of doubt. Eve ate, Adam ate, both fell, and everything
changed.
God cursed the serpent, and cursed the ground because of
Adam. Both Adam and Eve and their
children would now know pain and toil.
Life got hard. Suffering entered
in. And then there was death.
But in a mercy that must have seemed like further
punishment, they were exiled, and in them, we were exiled from paradise. It was for their good, though, since God
didn’t want them eating of the tree of life, and now, in their sin, living
forever. And so an angel with sword
aflame would bar the way back. Paradise
is lost. Exile into chaos begins. No more neat and orderly garden where
everything comes easy. Now it’s the
wilderness and the sweat of the brow. No
more idyllic paradise full of beauty and delights. Now it’s change and decay in all around I
see.
Oh, what trouble sin has brought us! Every hurt and sorrow, every grief and loss,
it all goes back to the beginning. That
car accident, that bleak diagnosis, that child-sized coffin. All of it is fruit of the tree that brought
bitter knowledge of good and evil, and pain and death. We know it, because we live it, out here in
the wilderness, in the exile of the fallen world. And we can’t just blame it on our first
parents because we participate in the same perversion, we too would make
ourselves like God. With every sinful
deed and word and thought we confirm it.
But God is good. And
there are still flashes of that paradise because of his great mercy. Even the unbeliever can point to the good of
life, enjoy happiness for a moment. The
rain falls on the just and the unjust.
Daily bread is given to all. But
there’s more.
God provides a way out of the wilderness. He sends a second Adam to undo the damage of
the first. He restores us to paradise by
the tree of a cross, and the blood of his own son. Death to destroy death. Only Jesus is equal to the task. And with him, and with his resurrection and
ascension, and one day his return in glory, everything changes again.
It’s back to the beginning.
It’s back to paradise. It’s out
of the wilderness and chaos and back to something even better.
Revelation 22 pictures for us the final destination of God’s
holy people, the church. And it is
described in John’s vision as a holy city, the New Jerusalem.
Not a garden, but a beautiful city. But the similarities are striking as he
restores us and renews us for eternity.
Eden was planted by 4 rivers. In the New Jerusalem flows the River of Life,
its source the very throne of God.
Eden featured the Tree of Life, which God barred us from
eating for our own good. In the New
Jerusalem, now this tree reappears, and not just one but many, with fruit year
round. In other words, abundant and
eternal life awaits us there!
The leaves of Eden were plucked by Adam and Eve in an anemic
attempt to cover their shame. Now the
leaves are for the healing of the nations, that is all the descendants of Adam.
And here, in our blessed eternal home, there is no longer
any curse. Not the ground, not our
labor, not even a cursed serpent to bother us.
But once again we dwell in the presence of God. He who once walked in the garden with us in
the cool of the day, will dwell in our midst eternally, giving light and love
and blessing. He will even give us a
share in his reign, and we will worship him in perfect joy.
Everything that went wrong when sin came into this world
will be reversed, restored, made new and clean and incorruptible. Every sorrow will be but a distant memory as
God himself wipes every tear from our eyes.
We have a hope, dear Christians, that does not
disappoint. And it is far greater than
the pop-spirituality of our psuedo-Christian culture. We don’t just die and go to heaven, as if
some nebulous and vague place of happiness.
We have grand and specific promises about our eternal future.
We have a resurrection.
A reversal of death, so that in our flesh we will see God. Just as Christ is risen, so shall we, to live
forever, body and soul.
We have a new creation promised. This world will pass away, melt away, and
give way to the new. Much as our own
flesh must die and be raised, so God will restore creation to its intended
glory.
And best of all, our God will be with us, face to face.
These words are trustworthy and true. They were brought to John, and to us, by an
angel. Not one bearing a flaming sword
casting us out into exile, but welcoming us to an eternal home.
And our Lord himself invites us to this destiny. The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” the Church agrees and proclaims the
invitation even now. Come to the
foretaste of eternity, breaking into our reality today, in a sacramental meal
that reverses the curse for us.
Today, in the day that you eat of it, you will live! Forgiveness, life, and salvation are yours,
now, in this Holy Sacrament. And life,
free and without price, is ours forever, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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