First Presbyterian Church
What's a Presbyterian to Do with Revelation? Part 21
Sermon for July 31, 2005
by Pastor Susan Barnes

As we've done before, we will intersperse our reading from Revelation with quotes from the old testament. John speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, a city of God, using traditional ideas and familiar images from the old testament, especially from places where God encouraged the people of the covenant after persecution. These old testament themes are not so familiar to us, so I have included them in our readings to help us make the connections between the old and new testaments.

I have tried to stay close to the biblical texts in this sermon series. Much of what Christians think is in Revelation is not in the book at all, like the rapture and the antichrist. I am not immune to that. Last week, I spoke of some Christians who believe the site in Jerusalem has to be cleared of the mosque there, to make way for the new temple spoken of in Revelation. If you listen carefully to the reading today, you'll see that there is no rebuilt temple at all. There's something better.

In this chapter, we see the holy city prepared as a bride. She contrasts with the whore of Babylon, drunk on the blood of the martyrs, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls, excesses of the luxury trade. The bride is also adorned with jewels, but her jewels are symbols of purity, from priestly garments. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Revelation 21.

1 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.

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. Isaiah 65:17-19.

2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 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;

My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 37: 27.

4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

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. Isaiah 25: 8b.

Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."

No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD -- and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent-- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD . Isaiah 65:20-25.

5 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."

6 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.

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1.

7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 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."

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.

These shall be the exits of the city: On the north side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits by measure, three gates, the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi, the gates of the city being named after the tribes of Israel. On the east side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits, three gates, the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan. On the south side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits by measure, three gates, the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun. On the west side, which is to be four thousand five hundred cubits, three gates, the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naphtali. The circumference of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD is There. Ezekiel 48: 30-35.

14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia 1; its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass.

19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work; you shall make it in the style of the ephod; of gold, of blue and purple and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen you shall make it. It shall be square and doubled, a span in length and a span in width. You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald shall be the first row; and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and a moonstone; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with names corresponding to the names of the sons of Israel; they shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. Exodus 28:15.

21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. 22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, or your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. Isaiah 60:19-20.

24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah 60: 3.

25 Its gates will never be shut by day-- and there will be no night there.

And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the LORD), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light. Zechariah 14:7.

26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

Your gates shall always be open; day and night they shall not be shut, so that nations shall bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession. Isaiah 60:11.

27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

This ends our reading of God's word.

As I prepared this sermon, I was impressed with the depth and breadth of this next to the last chapter in Revelation. There is so much in this chapter I would love to preach on. But as I prepared, I wondered about the list of sins that keep one from entering into this city, that keep one's name from being written in the lamb's book of life. And John writes that nothing unclean will enter the city. What about Jesus' words and actions about including people who are unclean? This list of sins isn't the main thrust of the text, but it kept getting in my way. I especially kept getting bogged down on that word ‘liars.'

Who hasn't told a lie, especially as a child? What about when we lie, and confess it to God, and try to make amends for our lies? Are we not included? John of Patmos seems to make no allowances for repentant liars.

I found some words in a commentary that helped me understand the list of sins.

The list “highlights … ways of participating in the treason against God's empire. The cowards lose courage in the struggle with the antidivine forces; the faithless and polluted become the followers of Babylon; the murderers become the beast's agents in killing those who resist [the evil power of the beast]; the fornicators, sorcerers, and idolaters worship the dominion that destroys the earth; and finally, the liars commit themselves to the [falsehood] that breeds violence. These vices do not represent abstract lists of …moral failures, but rather, exhort the audience not to betray God's world and [God's intention] of well-being and salvation.” 2

As for the unclean people, I think it refers to those who have been persecuting Christians, those who are drunk on the blood of martyrs. In the Bible, gentiles are considered unclean because they do not follow the purification laws, yet within the Bible there are different eschatological views on gentiles – that is, what happens to the gentiles in the end:

Here are the four views: one, the gentiles will be annihilated; two, the gentiles will be excluded when Israel is restored; three, gentiles will serve Israel and pay tribute to Jerusalem; four, gentiles will participate completely in the worship of God

The 21st chapter of Revelation takes the last view. The nations share the glory and splendor of the heavenly city. So there's no new temple; God is the temple. It's like the promise of Jeremiah 31:34: No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD ," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

The dimensions of the heavenly city are huge; fifteen hundred miles or so. I know your pew Bibles said fifteen hundred miles, but Revelation lists 12,000 stadia, and that is an important number; you have twelve, the number traditionally associated with tribes and apostles, and 1,000 which is a vast amount. Changing it to fifteen hundred miles might be numerically accurate, but not true to the text.

It's vaster than any ancient city. There is room in this city for everyone who wants to come in; the gates are always open; this is a cosmic salvation. The shape of the city is similar to the shape of the holy of holies, the most sacred place in the temple in Jerusalem. God's power becomes the source of eternal life and happiness. The empire of God is not oppressive and dehumanizing, but full of life, light, wealth, health, and eternity. All life is sacred there.

These last chapters have compared Babylon, or Rome, to the kingdom of God, and find it wanting in mercy and justice. The book of Revelation advocates resistance to the evils of the Roman empire. Once the emperor Constantine legitimized Christianity, that interpretation of resistance was a problem, especially for the emperor. So, “ the Roman emperor came to be seen as a representative of Christ. And Christ came to be understood as ruling on earth through the current political system.” 3

That changed when the city of Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410. If Rome, since the days of Emperor Constantine, was the protector of the church, what did it mean now that it was destroyed? The bishop of Hippo, Augustine, realized that the city of Rome [is not], and indeed no political entity is, the true city of God. The city of God is the church. And it's only that city that will be preserved [inviolate] until the end of time when Christ comes in judgment... . For Augustine, then, the city of God, the church, is the new Jerusalem on earth and anticipates the final new Jerusalem in heaven.” 4

But the church is just as susceptible to sin as other institutions. One of the great themes of our reformed tradition is the recognition of the human tendency to idolatry and tyranny, which calls the people of God to work for the transformation of society by seeking justice and living in obedience to the word of God. 5 Sometimes the people of God need to do most of that transformation within the church.

That's one of the reasons Presbyterian churches change some of our leadership each year. Usually a third of our elders and deacons change at one time. The nature of the Presbyterian system is that it shares power and responsibility, partly to guard against misuse of power. We ordain and install church officers who are willing to be spiritual leaders of the church. The officers are willing to work together to find and represent the will of Christ.

We trust that God will guide them, and in turn, they will guide us through dedication, prayer, discussion and discernment.

This morning, we also celebrate the sacrament of baptism. We celebrate a teenager who wants to dedicate her life to Christ, and try to live her life following Jesus. That life includes being baptized, joining the church as a member, and serving as an elder on session. When we ordain and install our elders, we use the liturgy of baptism, to remind them of God's grace, and the promises made at their baptisms. We are learning how to live into the gifts God gives us.

1 the NRSV says 1,500 miles, but the number 12,000 is an important symbolic number.

2 Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schüssler, Revelation: Vision of a Just World, Proclamation Commentaries, p. 110.

3 Collins, Adela Yarbro. “When the beast converts,” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/brevelation.html

4by L. Michael White. “Augustine's reinterpreation” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/brevelation.html

5Book of Order, G-2.0500 a.(4).