The Sermon Text — Revelation 21: 1-8

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And 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; 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." And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

About sixty years after the death of Christ, in present day Turkey, lived a pastor by the name of John. John, like many pastors of his day, traveled from one city to another teaching, admonishing, and training leaders. His circuit included such cities as Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

During this time Rome ruled the entire Mediterranean world. Their Emperor, Domitian, like many other Roman Emperors declared himself to be Divine. He claimed the titles, King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the Son of God. Only a few people objected to the emperor declaring himself to be a god. Those who did were generally monotheistic, they believed in the worship of one God. The leading monotheists in the Roman Empire were Jews and a fast growing new religion that called themselves, "The Way." Today we know them as Christians. Both Jews and Christians resisted emperor worship. Their opposition made Domitian mad, and in select cities, he instituted a policy, that declared that those who failed to acknowledge him as a god, those who failed to state publicly, "Domitian is Lord," would not receive a work permit. If anyone made a big issue of it, they would be arrested. John was arrested and sent to Patmos, a prison island.

On Patmos, John was placed in a minimum security prison, and allowed to continue his reading and even some writing. One Sunday, while praying, John was caught up in the Spirit. In his vision an angel visited him and spoke to him telling him to record his vision. He did. This is what he saw and heard.

Initially he was addressed not only by the angel, but also by Jesus. Jesus identified himself as "The Alpha and the Omega, the one who is, who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Then Jesus gave him a message to deliver to the seven churches under his guidance. He had words of praise, words of caution, and in one case, a strong word of condemnation: You are neither cold nor hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." (3.15).

Next, the angel showed him a scroll with seven seals. The scroll addressed the meaning of life, but at first they couldn’t find anyone worthy to open the scroll. Then stepped forward, a lamb who was bleeding. No one in heaven or on earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. John was about to give up when one stepped forward who was able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Who? A wounded lamb! What lamb? "The Lamb Who Was Slain." He was worthy, and he was able to open each of the seals. The first six seals demonstrated life without God; the last seal showed life with God.

Wherever "The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" appears, evil follows. Evil first took the shape of a Red Dragon, who had seven heads and ten horns. He had his eyes focused on a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet. On her head was a crown of twelve stars. She was in labor, about to give birth to a son, and she cried out in pain. The Dragon’s goal was to devour the child as soon as it was born.

The woman immediately gave birth to a son, the one destined to rule all the nations. The child was spirited away to the throne of God and the woman was taken by God into protective custody.

As the woman fled, war broke out in heaven between the forces of God, led by Michael and his angels, and the forces of the Dragon, (who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world) and his angels. The war was quickly over. The dragon was thrown out of heaven to the earth and his angels with him. Evil is no match for God. The Dragon was none other than the Devil and Satan, the great deceiver of the world.

More evil followed. John next saw a beast rising out of the sea. The beast was big, ugly and powerful, and it uttered haughty and blasphemous words – probably words such as Domitian is the Son of God – and it waged war against the saints. Then another beast, one that tried to look like a lamb, appeared and tried to deceive people. The beast declared war on those who believed in God, those who refused to utter such blasphemes as, "Domitian is the son of God."

When John looked again he saw the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, surrounded by the 144,000 who had his name on their foreheads. The name came from their baptism when they were sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. We met this 144,000 earlier along with a huge number of faithful people, so large in number that no one could count them.

Who was the Beast? It was the nation who killed believers, who did the dirty work of Satan. Rome. John called the beast Babylon, but Babylon was a code word for Rome.

Suddenly a number of angels appeared, each with a message. One said, "Fear God and give him glory." A second announced that Babylon, (Rome) had fallen. Another cried out, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." Then he saw seven angels who carried seven plagues, followed by seven angels with seven bowls of wrath, which were poured out in the temple. This was a reminder that bad things will continue to happen.

Next, he saw a woman dressed in purple, bedecked with gold and jewels. On her head was this sign: Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abomination." (17.5) She represented all oppressive governments, but one in particular -- Rome. John, in prison was forced to use a code name for Rome. He called it Babylon. This woman, Rome, had killed many of the faithful. She and all the evil forces were going to make war on the Lamb, but the angel told John, "The Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings.

Suddenly John heard an announcement, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. It has become a dwelling place of demons." The battle was over, and then he heard a hymn from the throats of countless people. "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God." (19.1)

The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and sang their version of the Hallelujah chorus: Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad.

Then heaven opened, and a white horse appeared. Soon an angel came down from heaven (20.1) and seized the dragon and bound him for 1,000 years.

Then a white throne appeared and one sat on the throne. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. Finally, the war with evil was over. God had triumphed.

Moments later John saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. He saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, all dressed up, like a woman headed to a party, or a wedding.

The angels explained the meaning to John. This means that heaven, where God dwells, will soon be located, not in the sky, not be far off. Heaven, but here on earth. The dwelling place of God is with us. God will make his home with us. It means, in the words of Gerhard Manley Hopkins, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God." God loves the world so much that he plans to live in it, with us. This is the ultimate work of Immanuel. The Kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ (17.6) One day evil will be eliminated from the earth.

Why is so much of what we read in Revelation so weird? Answer: Because John has chosen a form of literature that would be understandable to the people who would read it, but not to the Roman authorities who would screen it, or threaten to censor it. The form of literature, called Apocalyptic allowed John to write in code, while in prison. Today someone might hide a message by writing it as science fiction or sing it in a rap song.

Why is there so much violence in this book? Answer: He is reporting the violence of the world’s superpower, Rome. Rome’s oppressive government caused the violence. In the end Revelation is a story of great hope. It is a story that says, "One day soon, God will take over and claim this world again. So, stay with God. Do not worship that phony beast, the Roman Emperor." To us he says, ‘Never forget that there is a power greater than any earthly power. There is a power greater than your government. Make sure your government answers to God. Governmental power will not last. It cannot compare to the power of God. God is so awesome that there is no temple in the new city because the temple is the Lord. The city has no need of sun, moon or artificial lighting, because the glory of the Lord is its light. This is the ultimate in green power."

Do remember, nothing unclean will enter. There is no place for those who refuse to confess God as the Lord.

After all of the chilling pictures, all of the oppression, all of the brutal figures, this story ends in hope. God will create a new heaven and a new earth. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Death will be no more. Mourning and crying and pain will be no more. All of the pain, all of the evil, all of the first things, will pass away.

Revelation was written to enable those confronted with persecution and cruelty to renew their commitments and sustain their vision.

How do we know this is true? Faith. We trust that all of this comes from Jesus, who sent his angel with this testimony (22.16). Jesus is the descendant of David, Israel’s greatest king. Jesus is the bright morning star (22.16). He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last.

So, the Bible begins in a garden, and ends in a city. It begins with the voice of God and ends with the voice of God. It ends with this promise: He is coming soon. All the people say, "Amen, come Lord Jesus (22.20)." Now we repeat this promise in our hymns, "O Come, O Come Immanuel." We say it at our dinner table, "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest." And we pray it in the prayer our Lord taught us, "Thy kingdom come."

How shall we end this story of Revelation? With the words of John. He speaks to each of us who are believers, each of us who he calls saints. "He is coming soon. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with each of you. Amen." © 2007