Welcome to this week’s episode, a special rerun from our Speaking of Life archive. We hope you find its timeless message as meaningful today as it was when it was first shared.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnxrGh20cMI
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4025 | No One Special, Just Chosen
Cara Garrity
“Circle, circle, dot, dot, now I got my cootie shot. Circle, circle, square square, now I got them everywhere.” Is a common playground rhyme chanted to tease or exclude another kid.
As humans, it is easy for us to focus on what makes us different, or ostracize a person or group to create an in-crowd. We see a situation like this occur in the life of the early church, about how to welcome Gentiles—non-Jewish people—into the community of faith. This conversation seems especially foreign to us—a mostly Gentile audience, centuries removed. We must keep in mind that for generations keeping the law was the marker of the faithfulness of God’s chosen people of Israel. A big part of that law included dietary restrictions.
So Peter’s strange dream in Acts 11 tells us that God is doing something new:
“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me,
‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’
Acts 11:5-7 (ESV)
According to Jewish law and custom, the animals in Peter’s dream were considered unclean. Anything “unclean” was considered contagious and invoked experiences of separation from God and others. It was one thing that separated Jews from Gentiles. The invitation to Peter to rise, kill, and eat was an invitation to break down that separation and participate in a new way of being God’s people.
This was a revolutionary statement that wholeness and redemption are found in Jesus alone, not by external laws and customs. Inclusion of Gentile Christians then, was not conditional upon adopting the practices of Jewish law and custom but upon Christ. God’s chosen people were no longer marked by custom but by faith.
Sadly, we the Church, still lean toward separation as we struggle with questions of chosenness and inclusion. We sometimes rely upon a behavior or external indicator to prove our worth as a follower of Jesus. Or we use our understanding of normative Christian customs as criteria to dismiss or exclude someone else. This negates the inclusive message God gave to Peter. All are included and invited to participate in what God is doing – bringing many sons and daughters to glory.
This Easter season as we celebrate the newness of life found in our resurrected King, I invite you to participate in a new way of being God’s people. A new way that relies on Jesus alone as proof of our chosenness. A new way of radical inclusion in Christ. In Jesus, we are reconciled to God and one another, not by custom, but by his broken body raised to glorious life again.
I’m Cara Garrity, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4025 | No One Special, Just Chosen
Cara Garrity
“Circle, circle, dot, dot, now I got my cootie shot. Circle, circle, square square, now I got them everywhere.” Is a common playground rhyme chanted to tease or exclude another kid.
As humans, it is easy for us to focus on what makes us different, or ostracize a person or group to create an in-crowd. We see a situation like this occur in the life of the early church, about how to welcome Gentiles—non-Jewish people—into the community of faith. This conversation seems especially foreign to us—a mostly Gentile audience, centuries removed. We must keep in mind that for generations keeping the law was the marker of the faithfulness of God’s chosen people of Israel. A big part of that law included dietary restrictions.
So Peter’s strange dream in Acts 11 tells us that God is doing something new:
“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me,
‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’
Acts 11:5-7 (ESV)
According to Jewish law and custom, the animals in Peter’s dream were considered unclean. Anything “unclean” was considered contagious and invoked experiences of separation from God and others. It was one thing that separated Jews from Gentiles. The invitation to Peter to rise, kill, and eat was an invitation to break down that separation and participate in a new way of being God’s people.
This was a revolutionary statement that wholeness and redemption are found in Jesus alone, not by external laws and customs. Inclusion of Gentile Christians then, was not conditional upon adopting the practices of Jewish law and custom but upon Christ. God’s chosen people were no longer marked by custom but by faith.
Sadly, we the Church, still lean toward separation as we struggle with questions of chosenness and inclusion. We sometimes rely upon a behavior or external indicator to prove our worth as a follower of Jesus. Or we use our understanding of normative Christian customs as criteria to dismiss or exclude someone else. This negates the inclusive message God gave to Peter. All are included and invited to participate in what God is doing – bringing many sons and daughters to glory.
This Easter season as we celebrate the newness of life found in our resurrected King, I invite you to participate in a new way of being God’s people. A new way that relies on Jesus alone as proof of our chosenness. A new way of radical inclusion in Christ. In Jesus, we are reconciled to God and one another, not by custom, but by his broken body raised to glorious life again.
I’m Cara Garrity, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 148:1–14 • Acts 11:1–18 • Revelation 21:1–6 • John 13:31–35
This week’s theme is newness of life. In our call to worship psalm, the Lord is praised for creating and sustaining all that he brought into existence. The reading from Acts recounts the story of Peter defending his decision to eat with uncircumcised men by reporting how the Holy Spirit moved in a new way to grant “repentance that leads to life” to the Gentiles. Our reading from Revelation displays the vision of a new heaven and a new earth. The Gospel text in John records Jesus giving a new commandment to love one another.
How to use this sermon resource.
Behold, I Am Making All Things New
Revelation 21:1–8 NIV
Today, for our fifth Sunday of the Easter season, we will jump nearly to the end of the Book of Revelation and begin to wrap up our Revelation series. Last week we looked at chapter 7 to answer the question of the identity of the multitude clothed in white robes. This section took place as an interlude during the opening of the seals that were unfolding a cataclysmic judgement upon the earth. This interlude gave us an incredible vision of the blessing of belonging to the Lord that encourages us to take our stand in this present evil age no matter what persecution comes our way. After this vision, the opening of seals continues along with a long stretch of apocalyptic descriptions of what we can expect from an evil empire, and the evil one himself, who knows his days are numbered. The lectionary does not include those sections, but instead gets to the end result, or what is called, the telos or end purpose, of the whole history of creation. Today’s reading and next week’s selection will give us two visions of that beautiful end into which the Lord is bringing us.
We will start today by looking at the first vision of a new heaven and a new earth that John illustrates in the opening of Revelation 21. The lectionary gives us the first six verses to cover, and we will tack on two more for good measure.
So, let’s jump over to Revelation 21:1–8 with its accompanying apocalyptic language, where John attempts to express the purpose of creation consummated in Jesus Christ. This section brings into view the ultimate end purpose of creation. The eight verses that begin chapter 21 of Revelation serve as a condensed picture of God’s purposes to us as a completed reality in Jesus, who is the telos for all creation.
Gordon Fee captures the culminating effect this paragraph has for the Book of Revelation and its final chapters: “The opening paragraph (21:1–8) appears to serve the twofold purpose of bringing closure to much that has preceded, and especially of functioning as a kind of catch-all introduction to the whole.”[1] This “twofold purpose” includes the two themes of removing evil and establishing the blessings of eternal life. We can see both themes fulfilled in Jesus in his death and resurrection. Here is a sweeping quote from T.F. Torrance in his book, The Apocalypse Today, to help us launch into the final chapters of Revelation:
It has been said that the great purpose of God, which begins with creation, narrows down in a fallen world first to the people of Israel and then to the suffering Servant, Jesus Christ, but in Jesus Christ it widens out through the Church, the Israel of God, and at last breaks into a new heaven and a new earth…. At its centre is the Lamb of God, He who is, who was, and who is to come, gathering up in Himself the purpose of the original creation and fulfilling it by redemption in the new creation. (p. 175–176)
Seeing Jesus at the center of this twofold purpose in Revelation reveals his redemptive work, in death and resurrection, as the establishment of a “new” reality that runs through all history, culminating at his return. Through images, John shares with us what this reality looks like.
As we begin, I encourage you to let these images and metaphors that John employs open your imagination to see a little deeper into the reality of the soon coming kingdom the Lord is establishing. What God has in mind for us is so amazing and beautiful that it is impossible to describe due to the limitations of language. So, John is having to write beyond the rules and bounds of language to engage our imaginations and get us to transcend how we typically think about our world today. And no matter how wonderful a picture you can come up with, you can rest assured that it will still fall woefully short of the real thing. So, imagine with all you got.
Let’s see how John begins showing us what lies at the end of history:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. Revelation 21:1 NIV
The first image is of the sea that “was no longer.” Linking this image to the statements of the first heaven and earth that “had passed away” we get introduced to the establishment of God’s new kingdom by way of the old one being removed. For the original readers of John’s letter, the image of the sea represented evil and would carry the full weight of evil and the demonic realm as well as the intense rebellion of the nations against God (Psalm 65:7). This image goes beyond a mere calming of the sea, where the evil waves and wind subside from raging. Since John was exiled on the island of Patmos, he also viewed the sea as a barrier that separated him and the brethren he loved. The sea is gone altogether, never again to blow into a frenzied and disruptive chaos. Clearly, this is meant to be read figuratively. It is a picture of a world that no longer has the pull of evil working against God’s good creation and his people. Thankfully, it does not mean that there will no longer be trips to the beach.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Revelation 21:2 NIV
On the heels of this image, we have the image of the “Holy City, the new Jerusalem.” God gives John a vision of his grand purpose for humanity using the picture of a new and improved city of Jerusalem. He does not do so by using the image of persons being taken up to heaven. Rather this “city bride” has been built and prepared by God to dwell with him here on a renewed earth. There is no need for a plan of getting to heaven on our own efforts. In our discouragement with ourselves, we can find hope as we cast our eyes upwards to the One who is not done preparing us for glory. By specifying the city as Jerusalem, John is able to bring in all the promises and purposes God has given us in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. John establishes a link between what God has been doing throughout all history and the fulfillment of that work reached in Jesus Christ, which culminates at his return. These images are painted on the canvas of a heaven-earth reality. In the Incarnation of the Son, the coming together of God and his creation holds. John’s visions don’t include any everlasting destruction of God’s creation. God’s promises are kept.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:3–4 NIV
These images are interrupted by “a loud voice from the throne …” The voice that spoke in the garden of Eden is now heard in the city. The voice that spoke to Israel is the same voice we hear in the new Jerusalem. The Word of God spoken to us in Jesus Christ is now heard as the ruling voice speaking from the throne. That voice delivers three statements of togetherness that communicate God’s desire to be with his people. The full Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, “will be with them and be their God.” This is the overarching purpose God had from the beginning and why he created us in the first place — to be with us. This is what makes “all things new” — relationship.
In John’s vision, it’s after God dwells with his people that all tears are wiped away. Our deepest wounds in life are from our relationships that have been broken by death, sorrow, and pain. It will be our deepest relationship with the Father that ultimately heals all these wounds, wiping away all tears, including the ones we caused in others. Life becomes what it was always meant to be, right relationship. Death, sorrow, and pain are of the “old order of things” and so will not have a share in the new thing God has done.
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 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 without cost from the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:5–6 NIV
The passage continues with the “trustworthy and true” statement, “It is done.” This new thing issues out of the One who lives as the “Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which are being used here as a symbol of the beginning and end of all things. The full scope of creation and its history from start to finish is under Jesus’ rule and sovereignty. The cosmos has no intrinsic meaning or purpose detached from the one who gave it existence and sees it through to its end.
With the Incarnation, the Son of God, who stands transcendent over creation and history as its originator, sustainer and end, steps into history to give it a new beginning and a new end. The original beginning fell into decay with the fall of Adam. The trajectory of this fall would ultimately lead back to nonexistence, as humanity has now turned away from the “trustworthy and true” voice of its Creator, choosing instead to listen to a lie. The natural cataclysmic consequence of creation’s ultimate destruction from this point on is now just a matter of time.
But Jesus steps into time and becomes this “end” for his creation. In Revelation 22, we see the Greek word eschatos added as one of the titles for Jesus; it is translated as “last” or “conclusion.” “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last [eschatos], the beginning and the end [telos]” (Revelation 22:13). Jesus is creation’s eschatos. If we must have our doomsday destruction of earth and humanity (as often depicted in many “end time” scenarios), we need look no further than the cross. Jesus wraps up all creation’s disorder, destruction, and death due to sin, and brings it to its decisive and deserved end, giving it a proper burial. We don’t have to rely on time to provide this in some future finale. It is done in Jesus.
The resurrection of Jesus lets us know that he is also our new beginning. With this new beginning, we now have a new “end” which is expressed in our present passage. As we alluded to earlier, the Greek word for “end” is the word telos. This essentially means the end goal or purpose. This “I Am” statement of identification tells us that it is in Jesus himself that we come to the ultimate purpose for all creation. Jesus has assumed God’s creation at the depth of its sinfulness, to destroy all evil and bring it to its full purpose of blessing life.
When we look at Jesus raised and ascended, we are seeing what it looks like to be fully human, filled up, and whole as God intended. This fullness or end goal, accomplished in Jesus, is a kingdom to be received as an inheritance, not earned as a payment. It is to the “thirsty” that Jesus gives “water without cost.” Jesus is the water of life, who freely gives his life to us. Being thirsty indicates the Beatitude position of one who receives what the Lord gives (Matthew 5:6). “Water without cost” is the life poured out to us by grace. We don’t earn or pay for it in any way. It is to be received as a gift.
In contrast to this, we have a list of characteristics that are distortions of right relationships in the concluding two verses that we will tack onto our lectionary reading. They highlight the sinful orientation to life that has no future. These distortions, in contrast to being thirsty, take up a posture of attempting to gain our own life and blessings through the old order of things that “have passed away.” This way of living is the surest way to death. The old order has passed away and has no future in God’s kingdom.
Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Revelation 21:7–8 NIV
The language of a burning lake of fire and a second death is strong imagery, aimed to warn against clinging to that which will ultimately let us down. We do not have to wait to receive this newness in some distant time in the future. This also falls under the “it is done” statement by Jesus. So, there is no need to hold onto those things that are passing away. Sin, death, and darkness have no future. Our future is to share in the divine relationship of grace. This is a future of new things, a new life, without cost, that God gives us today in Jesus Christ. As we center our hope on Jesus, the telos of all creation, the Last One, we can participate in his kingdom, knowing that Jesus lives, bringing his future world into our world today.
Next week we will conclude our journey of John’s vision by visiting the new Jerusalem that has been introduced in today’s passage. This will round out more fully what God has in store for us. But before we conclude, I would like to encourage you to not assume that these wonderful images are reserved only for some future time. That is true in the fullest sense, but that does not mean we can’t participate in partial ways today. The reality has already been established in Jesus Christ. We may not be able to see it fully this side of the kingdom, but that does not mean it’s not real.
So, take John’s vision as an invitation of hope. In hope, we are invited to begin living in the kingdom today in what choices we make, how we treat one another, and by growing in our faith in the One who is the Alpha and Omega. We can participate in this way, knowing that it will live into the future. Everything else outside of the grace of God will come to nothing. So, why waste your time on such pursuits?
Living into the kingdom as it approaches will certainly attract some opposition in a world bent on resisting Jesus’ rule. But you are guaranteed Jesus’ victory in the end. That’s John’s encouragement in his letter to his seven churches, and it’s a letter the Holy Spirit preserved for you as well. As John writes in the beginning of Revelation, we will be blessed if we “hear it and take to heart what is written in it.” Amen!
[1] Gordon D. Fee, Revelation (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2011), 289.
Chris Blumhofer—Year C Easter 5
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR062-Blumhofer-YearC-Easter5.mp3
May 18, 2025 — Fifth Sunday in Easter
Revelation 21:1-6
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Program Transcript
Chris Blumhofer—Year C Easter 5
Anthony: Let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It’s Revelation chapter 21:1–6. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the fifth Sunday in Easter, which is May the 18.
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; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God; he will wipe away 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’m 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.
It may go without saying, Chris, that this particular text is a favorite for obvious reasons, as believers look forward to the new heaven and new earth. Again, I invite you, if you’re preaching this text to tell us, how would you communicate the weightiness of what is being spoken here?
Chris: It’s a great question. It’s the sort of text that preaches itself. I was reading one preacher from a long time ago, recently, but he opened his sermon saying, “This passage is so vivid and powerful that I should just read it in front of you three more times and call that my sermon.”
Anthony: Yes.
Chris: And I’m sort of tempted to do that with things like this, rather than explaining it to death. People have some kind of long exposure to it that captures what it’s really trying to communicate.
So, the imagery is really rich here, but the first thing I’d want to do, and this comes from the text, I t comes from verse three: “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them. They will be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God.” I would take that declaration, try to open that up.
We — all God’s people, and all of this earth, is meant to have its home in God. God is the One in whom we dwell, the One in whom we flourish, and that was the beginning of our creation and God has committed to it being our end as well. We want to linger on the importance of seeking a home in God.
There are many great Christian writers who have thought about this. The most famous example of it is Saint Augustine. And it is a well-known line that, “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” To linger on the longing for a home, I think, is one way of putting ourselves in the spiritual, emotional, existential condition that this text addresses.
It’s not really fair sometimes at eight-thirty in the morning, when my church starts to ask people to get to a place of longing for this, because we’re still waking up. But help our hearts be awake to the hope that God is speaking here. I think that’s the first task of a sermon that takes on a text that is just marvelous in its imagery and vision for who we are here.
After that I would want to unpack some of the imagery, and there’s lots of the imagery to dive into. Almost every phrase between the commas in this passage is worthy of its own exposition. It’s just soaked in the Old Testament — this image of a new heaven and the new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away.
These promises come to us from Isaiah 65. The exile is over. That’s another kind of home imagery. Also, the exile is over, and the hardship of that life has been redeemed. The sea being no more — in the Bible, the sea often represents this kind of chaos that’s in revolt against God. And so, the elimination of the sea is this kind of revolt replaced by the peace of God’s presence.
Also, just a few chapters before this in Revelation, the sea — that was the path by which Rome, Babylon, got wealthy and exploited the whole earth. And so, for the sea to no longer exist, it also suggests that the exploitation that once took place on the sea is a thing of the past as well. The imagery of the city coming down as a bride adorned for her husband — these are pictures of union, reunion, blessing, joy. And I, even in hearing myself say that, the specific thing it’s describing is almost always connected with an emotion, a celebration, a peace, something like that. And holding onto that connection is important, I think. So, this comes from Isaiah 25, a passage of comfort, of a passage of encouragement in which God through the prophet, encourages his people to remain faithful even through great hardship, and then speaks to their hope.
And this is what Isaiah 25:6–9 says.
On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the covering that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. And the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It’ll be said on that day, “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
John is standing in the tradition of this text and saying, we are here now. The home of God is among mortals. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. This speaks most loudly to people who have fresh awareness of the sting of death, the pain of deprivation, scarcity, injustice.
But John is out to just baptize our imaginations in the fact that this is the end for us. We’re moving in this direction. We can let this orient ourselves today and certainly look forward to it being our life in the world to come.
Anthony: That was a delicious word, and I am going to hold onto the way you phrased it, baptizing our imaginations. After speaking with a pastor last night, whose wife recently died, and knowing the pain and the loneliness that this friend of mine is feeling, we long for this. There is a sense of what we have truly longed for comes to pass. And it does come to pass, and the One who is seated on the throne says this, “I’m making all things new.”
And sometimes, Chris, I wonder if we pass over that. We don’t think of the implications, because the One sitting seated on the throne doesn’t say, “I’m making all new things,” as if, you know what, Father, we’ve got to go to plan B. This is a mess. We’ve just got to start over. But instead, he’s making what is new, renewing, recreating, baptizing what was into what will be. Hallelujah. Praise God. So, can you talk to that, this recreation that the One on the throne is speaking of?
Chris: That’s a great word. Great attention to detail. All things being new. Reminds me of that other text that also speaks of all things worked together for good in Romans eight. And that is God’s reclaiming of everything so that nothing is lost, and nothing is left behind in the work of redemption.
This promise and expectation speaks to me of new creation. So, the word, the verb there is the word for, “to make.” It’s a creation word, and it’s a new creation word. So, in the same way that God raised Jesus from the dead, new creation happens in the body of Jesus. I think I see this promise in Revelation lining up with that, “making all things new,” the new life of God suffusing everything, reclaiming everything. So, we may think about the resurrection scenes and the gospels. This is read in the season of Easter and we’re kind of living in that moment of being reminded of Jesus, being among his people in a way that is continuous with who they knew him to be in his earthly life. But it’s also animated by something new. As Paul says in first Corinthians 15, it was sown corruptible, it was raised incorruptible.
I think you know, Anthony, we’re working within the limits of our capacities and imaginations here. But what we see with clarity is that God is committed to creation, committed to this world he has made and the people he is made in it. And to recreation — he doesn’t just wipe the slate clean, but he redeems. And John is comforted by that, calling us to see that and let ourselves view our world in that way as well.
Anthony: Yeah. It’s interesting how it works itself out. And this may seem like a trite example, but I remember the first time my wife and I went house shopping. And I wanted something fairly new, so there wouldn’t be much maintenance, because I’m not exactly a handyman. But she loves to take older homes and restore them, to renew them, to find the beauty where there was ashes, where there was brokenness. And in thinking about that, pondering the way that she sees a home, it teaches me something. It tutors me in the way of God, that he takes what was broken, battered, in the depths of despair and renews it, recreates it into the “Imago Dei,” the way things are, and the way things were meant to be. And it’s so beautiful, and it speaks to — it’s a pertinent word for here and now, because I can see brokenness all around me. I love what you said. God is committed to his creation, and he’s really good at what he does. Certainly, in terms of recreation.
Program Transcript
Chris Blumhofer—Year C Easter 5
Anthony: Let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It’s Revelation chapter 21:1–6. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the fifth Sunday in Easter, which is May the 18.
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; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God; he will wipe away 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’m 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.
It may go without saying, Chris, that this particular text is a favorite for obvious reasons, as believers look forward to the new heaven and new earth. Again, I invite you, if you’re preaching this text to tell us, how would you communicate the weightiness of what is being spoken here?
Chris: It’s a great question. It’s the sort of text that preaches itself. I was reading one preacher from a long time ago, recently, but he opened his sermon saying, “This passage is so vivid and powerful that I should just read it in front of you three more times and call that my sermon.”
Anthony: Yes.
Chris: And I’m sort of tempted to do that with things like this, rather than explaining it to death. People have some kind of long exposure to it that captures what it’s really trying to communicate.
So, the imagery is really rich here, but the first thing I’d want to do, and this comes from the text, I t comes from verse three: “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them. They will be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God.” I would take that declaration, try to open that up.
We — all God’s people, and all of this earth, is meant to have its home in God. God is the One in whom we dwell, the One in whom we flourish, and that was the beginning of our creation and God has committed to it being our end as well. We want to linger on the importance of seeking a home in God.
There are many great Christian writers who have thought about this. The most famous example of it is Saint Augustine. And it is a well-known line that, “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” To linger on the longing for a home, I think, is one way of putting ourselves in the spiritual, emotional, existential condition that this text addresses.
It’s not really fair sometimes at eight-thirty in the morning, when my church starts to ask people to get to a place of longing for this, because we’re still waking up. But help our hearts be awake to the hope that God is speaking here. I think that’s the first task of a sermon that takes on a text that is just marvelous in its imagery and vision for who we are here.
After that I would want to unpack some of the imagery, and there’s lots of the imagery to dive into. Almost every phrase between the commas in this passage is worthy of its own exposition. It’s just soaked in the Old Testament — this image of a new heaven and the new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away.
These promises come to us from Isaiah 65. The exile is over. That’s another kind of home imagery. Also, the exile is over, and the hardship of that life has been redeemed. The sea being no more — in the Bible, the sea often represents this kind of chaos that’s in revolt against God. And so, the elimination of the sea is this kind of revolt replaced by the peace of God’s presence.
Also, just a few chapters before this in Revelation, the sea — that was the path by which Rome, Babylon, got wealthy and exploited the whole earth. And so, for the sea to no longer exist, it also suggests that the exploitation that once took place on the sea is a thing of the past as well. The imagery of the city coming down as a bride adorned for her husband — these are pictures of union, reunion, blessing, joy. And I, even in hearing myself say that, the specific thing it’s describing is almost always connected with an emotion, a celebration, a peace, something like that. And holding onto that connection is important, I think. So, this comes from Isaiah 25, a passage of comfort, of a passage of encouragement in which God through the prophet, encourages his people to remain faithful even through great hardship, and then speaks to their hope.
And this is what Isaiah 25:6–9 says.
On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the covering that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. And the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It’ll be said on that day, “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
John is standing in the tradition of this text and saying, we are here now. The home of God is among mortals. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. This speaks most loudly to people who have fresh awareness of the sting of death, the pain of deprivation, scarcity, injustice.
But John is out to just baptize our imaginations in the fact that this is the end for us. We’re moving in this direction. We can let this orient ourselves today and certainly look forward to it being our life in the world to come.
Anthony: That was a delicious word, and I am going to hold onto the way you phrased it, baptizing our imaginations. After speaking with a pastor last night, whose wife recently died, and knowing the pain and the loneliness that this friend of mine is feeling, we long for this. There is a sense of what we have truly longed for comes to pass. And it does come to pass, and the One who is seated on the throne says this, “I’m making all things new.”
And sometimes, Chris, I wonder if we pass over that. We don’t think of the implications, because the One sitting seated on the throne doesn’t say, “I’m making all new things,” as if, you know what, Father, we’ve got to go to plan B. This is a mess. We’ve just got to start over. But instead, he’s making what is new, renewing, recreating, baptizing what was into what will be. Hallelujah. Praise God. So, can you talk to that, this recreation that the One on the throne is speaking of?
Chris: That’s a great word. Great attention to detail. All things being new. Reminds me of that other text that also speaks of all things worked together for good in Romans eight. And that is God’s reclaiming of everything so that nothing is lost, and nothing is left behind in the work of redemption.
This promise and expectation speaks to me of new creation. So, the word, the verb there is the word for, “to make.” It’s a creation word, and it’s a new creation word. So, in the same way that God raised Jesus from the dead, new creation happens in the body of Jesus. I think I see this promise in Revelation lining up with that, “making all things new,” the new life of God suffusing everything, reclaiming everything. So, we may think about the resurrection scenes and the gospels. This is read in the season of Easter and we’re kind of living in that moment of being reminded of Jesus, being among his people in a way that is continuous with who they knew him to be in his earthly life. But it’s also animated by something new. As Paul says in first Corinthians 15, it was sown corruptible, it was raised incorruptible.
I think you know, Anthony, we’re working within the limits of our capacities and imaginations here. But what we see with clarity is that God is committed to creation, committed to this world he has made and the people he is made in it. And to recreation — he doesn’t just wipe the slate clean, but he redeems. And John is comforted by that, calling us to see that and let ourselves view our world in that way as well.
Anthony: Yeah. It’s interesting how it works itself out. And this may seem like a trite example, but I remember the first time my wife and I went house shopping. And I wanted something fairly new, so there wouldn’t be much maintenance, because I’m not exactly a handyman. But she loves to take older homes and restore them, to renew them, to find the beauty where there was ashes, where there was brokenness. And in thinking about that, pondering the way that she sees a home, it teaches me something. It tutors me in the way of God, that he takes what was broken, battered, in the depths of despair and renews it, recreates it into the “Imago Dei,” the way things are, and the way things were meant to be. And it’s so beautiful, and it speaks to — it’s a pertinent word for here and now, because I can see brokenness all around me. I love what you said. God is committed to his creation, and he’s really good at what he does. Certainly, in terms of recreation.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- How does John’s picture of there being no more sea strike you?
- Did John’s description of the Holy City “coming down out of heaven” challenge any understanding you may have had about “going up to heaven”?
- Did you see any significance in our relationship with God and our tears being wiped away?
- What is the significance of Jesus giving water to the thirsty without cost? What is implied by “thirsty” and “without cost”?
- What are some ways we can live into God’s kingdom today?
