Jesus'
return is the second part of our advent focus. Over the past four Sundays, we’ve
mostly looked back to Jesus’ first coming, today we’re looking at the second
part of what advent is all about and look at what it’s going to be like when
Jesus comes back. It's about new hope and renewal, about victory over sin and
death, and about heaven and earth coming together again; a reversal of what
happened in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. History
begins with chaos before creation. Genesis 1 and 2 is all about God entering
into the chaos and creating life and order and beauty and wonder through his creating
power. But chaos reappears with Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and the rest of
Scripture is all about God working with his chosen people to bring order once
again out of the chaos that sin creates.
Christmas
can be one of the loneliest times of the year for so many people and many of us didn’t
notice because we got caught up in celebrating Christmas with our families and
friends. It’s easy to forget to see those around us who are lonely and alone.
Christmas can also be a really painful time for many people as the hurts of the
year seem to get emphasized during this time of peace on earth and good will
among men, especially when we’re living in broken relationships.
Jesus’
healing begins right here with us being aware with each other of those who
are alone, who are less well off and reaching out to them and enfolding them
into our own lives and celebrations. Christmas dinner at the LMC on Christmas
Day was a wonderful way of seeing and reaching out to those who struggle at
this time of year or may simply be lonely. The challenge is to not forget them
as we go back to our own families and friends and to continue to see them and
enfold them into our lives and our church family, inviting them to accept Jesus
who is Immanuel, God with us. Faith in Jesus shapes us, changing our lives in
every aspect, giving us eyes that see the world through God’s eyes, and hearts
that interact with the world through God’s heart.
This
passage is rooted in the promise that God will
live with us again and we will be his people. There’s this wonderful
promise that there will be no more tears, death,
mourning or pain. Within our churches, there are still tears, mourning,
death and pain, yet we’re still able to offer hope and healing, compassion and
love because we know that whatever we’re going through is not the end of the
story, that Jesus brings new life and overturns the effects of sin that brings
brokenness and hurt into our lives. Most importantly, we offer our presence and
our friendships as a sign of what God’s kingdom is like, what it is going to
look like when Jesus returns with the new Jerusalem. Our faith equips us to
change the world around us, often one person at a time as we reach out in love
and caring towards them, looking to enfold them and walk with them. We
accomplish this by keeping our eyes on Jesus; allowing Jesus to shape us, fill
us, and use us in his name to be his presence of hope and healing in each
other’s lives. In the craziness of this time, slow down and allow Jesus’
presence to be his gift to you and our gift to those around us.
Jesus
enters into our world
as a human being to bring order and peace into our chaotic lives and hearts,
chaos that Satan loves to create. Jesus goes to the cross to wash away our sin
and make us clean as part of bringing order again out of the chaos of our lives
due to sin. This is the context of our passage this morning. Jesus’ return fills
us with hope, knowing that everything that’s broken will be renewed, that our
hurts will be healed, that life can start new again. John’s given this vision
to offer hope to all the believers who are being persecuted, who are
experiencing death and torture, to people who see little to hope for in this
world.
Now,
in spite of all the chaos that John’s living in, peace and order
enters. John sees something remarkable coming down from heaven, a “new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and there’s no longer any sea.” John uses
some specific words here, words that point to renewing, to fresh life arising
out of the decay and wreck of the old world. This isn’t about new geography,
this is about a new kind of a world arising out of the ashes of the old, of a
new people, a new way of living coming. This is about order coming out of
chaos, about peace coming out of war, of hope and joy coming out of the
persecution and poverty.
The
sea’s a place to fear for the Israelites; a place of chaos where monsters rule,
the place where the beast that fights Jesus comes from. The Jews were a desert
people, firmly anchored to the earth. John himself is on a prison island called
Patmos, an island battered by the sea during storms, a place far from family,
home and friends. A world without a sea for a Jew is a picture of safety and
order. What John sees here is an image of peace and safety.
John
sees the Holy City come down, a city deeply different from the city of
Babylon which has been defeated and destroyed. Babylon’s all about personal
power, lust and greed, and becoming a god rather than following God. Here the
new Jerusalem, God’s chosen city, is coming down from heaven, sent to earth by
God to take its place in his new world order. It’s a gorgeous city built with
precious jewels and gold and shines with the glory of God. Inside the city is a
river filled with the water of life lined with trees of life whose leaves are
filled with healing. The curse that came into the world with Adam and Eve’s sin
has been wiped away, the effects of sin washed away; the city and the people
are pure again, free of sin and the affects of sin, free of death, mourning,
crying or pain. The only tears found in the city are tears of joy and love.
There’s
a lot going on in this vision; echoes of creation, the prophets, acts
of salvation in the past all pointing ahead to Jesus’ return. It’s gives hope to
all people, especially those going to carry the words of this vision to the
churches in the Roman Empire going through persecution. Through John, God’s
talking to all his people through time, telling us that there’s hope, that the
time is coming when Jesus is coming back to claim his people and his kingdom. It’s
a picture of us being made new again, of all our hurt and brokenness being left
behind as we move forward into an eternal future with Jesus healed and
forgiven. Jesus' name Immanuel, God with us, will
now be completely fulfilled and lived out in Jesus' return.
Until
Jesus returns, there is much for us to do to prepare for his return. We are called to
make disciples, to invite others to join us in following Jesus. As followers of
Jesus, we work towards establishing the values of heaven here in our
communities, values of justice and righteousness where we care for those who
need a little extra help, we build on the good already here, we protect those
who are oppressed, we create places of safety for those needing hope and
someone to love them as Jesus loves them.
When
Jesus returns, there’s still going to be work to do. We get to
continue the task of discovering and releasing the potential that God has
placed in creation, a task that got sidetracked by the fall into sin, but will
be renewed again, but now with the entire creation open to us. Looking at
how Jesus’ body was changed after the resurrection, how he’s able to go through
walls and travel great distances quickly, what is that going to mean for us and
the huge universe that stretches out across light years all filled with
potential? Can you imagine the entire universe that’s waiting for us to
continue that first call on our lives to fill the universe and subdue it by
discovering and developing the potential that God has placed into it at
creation, to work alongside God in this amazing task? As Jesus says, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the
spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this,
and I will be their God and they will be my children.”
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