Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27 (Easter 6C)
St. John, Galveston 5/25/25
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    This morning’s message is based on the second reading for today from Revelation 21. The Book of Revelation is probably one of the most intriguing, and yet, most misunderstood books in the Bible. Part of what makes it difficult to understand is that, in reading it, we easily miss the forrest, as they say, for the trees. In other words, it’s easy for us to get bogged down in all the details of the various visions and to forget the central point of the book, which, simply put, is to assure us that, “God wins.”

    In the passage before us this morning, the fruit of God’s victory in Christ Jesus is depicted in the glory of heaven, the New Jerusalem, as it’s called in the Book of Revelation. Our heavenly home then will be the focus of this morning’s message.  

    There is an old Norwegian catechism that says God our Father called us aside one day in the home palace of heaven and sent us out to this “island colony called the earth.” After describing what our life would be like here, our Lord ends by saying, “The greatest danger is that you may fall in love with this island so that you will not care to return to the home kingdom. Love the island because it is My possession, but do not love it because it is your home. It is not your home. Your home is here in the palace with Me.”
 
    So familiar with this world and so unfamiliar with heaven, the question we sometimes ask is, what is heaven going to be like? To be correct, the answer, of course, has to come from God's Word. John, writing from his secluded little Island called Patmos, tells us a few things about heaven. Some the things he mentions will be noticeably present, others will be noticeably absent. We'll come to John's letter in just a moment. First, lets consider how we might envision heaven if we didn't have God's Word to inform and enlighten us. 
 
    College students on a mid-west campus were asked what they thought heaven would be like. One student said, "Heaven is a bar filled with all of your best friends and their friends too. Your wallet is never dry. The band is great, the dance floor is something wicked, and there is no last call. . .Or at least this is what I hope heaven will be like."
 
    "I'm not afraid to die (the student went on to say). I'm pretty well acquainted with the fact that we live and we die. It's all part of this "journey that we are on.” "I don't know what comes after death (he says) - If anything at all, but I won't live this life out of fear."
 
    "If heaven and hell exist (he says) I'm relying on my hope to get me in the right door." What is the young man's hope you may wonder? Well, he goes on to tell us. "I think I'm a relatively good person in a world full of evil and temptations. I try to have good intentions. I mean if heaven denies me simply because I was never baptized and I don't go to church, that's pretty small minded. That's an elitist club (he says) that I don't even want to be a part of!"
 
    As we think about out heaven and what it might be like, the things we love most in life, tend to slip in to our hopes and dreams. At another time in my life, I would have said, heaven is going to have the most beautiful golf coarse you've ever seen. And, every time you play the coarse you shoot a 59. For you non-golfers, that's a really really good score! At one time, that was my tongue in cheek answer to what heaven was going to be like, that is, until I gave up golf. Now I don't much care if heaven even has a golf coarse.
 
    Our nature, so corrupted by sin, keeps us from being able to comprehend something as perfect and as eternal as heaven. I mean, even though eternity is set in our hearts and we know that something lies beyond the grave, it is hard for us to imagine eternity itself, much less an eternity that is filled with bliss and joy. The question a golfer would ask about shooting a 59 each time they played heaven's coarse is, wouldn't that get boring after a while? In fact, that concern is one that many people express when it comes to contemplating heaven...how can you do anything throughout eternity without being bored to tears?
 
    Perhaps in the deep recesses of your heart and mind, you've experienced a bit of fear when thinking about what heaven will be like. Questions may have arisen. Will I experience heartache because someone I knew and loved in life isn't there? If James and John end up being seated on Jesus' left and right in the great celestial banquet, as they requested, will I be disappointed? If there isn't a golf coarse in heaven, will I miss it?

    “(Heaven’s) radiance is like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (As the Apostle testified) It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates…And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”

    Heaven sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? And yet, with that description, heaven is still woefully incomplete. The greater bliss and blessing of heaven is that it isn’t so much a place, as it is a person. The apostle continues describing the heavenly vision. “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” Indeed,

“Lord, Thee I love with all my heart;
I pray Thee, never from me depart,
With tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share. 
Yea, heaven itself were void and bare
If Thou, Lord, wert not near me.”

    “Now we see dimly as in a mirror (the Scriptures say), but then we will see face to face.” Heaven isn’t so much a place, as it is a person. As the Scriptures say, elsewhere, “the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
    
    In a sermon that Martin Luther preached on I Corinthians 15, specifically the verses about “God putting all things in subjection under His feet,” he said, “I do believe that everything — water, trees, and grass — will become much more beautiful and that there will be an entirely new earth, as St. Peter says, so that it will be a joy to look at it. But God Himself will sustain soul and body, as He who alone is to be All in all and who by our looking upon Him will impart more life, joy, and delight than all creatures are able to give, so that you will have to say; I would not give one moment of heaven for the wealth and pleasure of this world, although they were to last thousands and thousands of years.”  

    “I saw no temple in the city (says the Apostle), for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +