May 15, 2016 (050210) Notes Not Edited
Resurrection City
Resurrection City
Revelation 21:1-6
SIS--As followers of the Resurrected Lord we should live like citizens of
the Resurrection City.
One of the most fabulous
cities in film history is Emerald City in the Land of Oz. With many twists and turns, Dorothy, her dog
Toto, and her three new friends -- The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly
Lion – find themselves gazing at this glorious city. They were stunned by the glory of this
glimmering city.
Arriving at the Emerald
City is the climax of their journey (though not the climax of the story). It was a glorious city to behold.
But, the Emerald City in
the Land of Oz – as fabulous and wonderful as it is – is only make
believe. There is a city more wonderful
and more unimaginable than the Emerald City – the Resurrection City.
Abraham, the great Father
of the Faith, longed to see this city.
The Bible says: He was looking forward to the city that has
foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11:10).
Paul, the Apostle declares
clearly in Philippians 3:20 that we as believers are already citizens of that
Resurrection City. Paul says, “Our
citizenship is in heaven.”
The story of redemption
outlined throughout the Old and New Testaments comes to an ultimate climax with
all God’s saints gathered home to a beautiful city called the New
Jerusalem. Here, the Resurrected Lord
rules from His eternal home. Easter, as
a celebration was not that long ago, and Easter as a realization is not that
far into the future. The cross is not
the end of the story but the crest of the great Hill of Redemption. From that event, all history rolls toward the
glorious destination of God’s last chapter of human history which ends past the
gates of that Great City. John the Revelator gives us a glimpse into
what the future holds for the saints God:
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. 2 I saw the Holy
City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud
voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will
live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and
be their God. 4 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.” 5 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.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I
will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Here we have the picture of
the Greatest Homecoming in History. All
the followers of the Resurrected Lord are gathered into one glorious city that
defies any real description by human language.
Think of any superlative: "glorious,
astonishing, magnificent, and superlatives ad infinitum.” None of these supreme descriptors, nor all of
them together even begin to describe the New Jerusalem—The Resurrection City.
My goal this morning is not
to describe this New Jerusalem, but to discuss the attitude and actions we as
believers should be taking now, knowing that we will one day arrive at the
gates of the Resurrection City. In light
of our Heavenly Citizenship, I want to explore the question, "How Now
Should We Live?" God did not snatch
us up when we were saved because this life we live in this world has
value. This value comes at least in part
in the fact that we are "practicing for our heavenly abode."
In the blockbuster movie, The Gladiator, General Maximus sums up
this idea well when he declares, "Brothers . . . what we do in life,
echoes in eternity." This being so,
I want to look at our text describing Heaven and draw three considerations
about how we should be living as we pass through this life and into the
Resurrection City:
1. We should be
CULTIVATING COMMUNITY
Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away, and the sea no longer existed.
2 I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
The opening symbol of this
vision is a gleaming, new city. Many
falsely think of heaven in a more "pastoral" setting such as the
Garden of Eden. The Bible says, God
planted a garden “in” Eden, not “of” Eden.
Eden was a glorious city with a “central park.” “Eden” means “pleasant.” John turns the idea of a “country pastoral
scene” on its head. The eternal abode of
the redeemed is not a "garden," but a "city." This has strong theological implications.
The "city" many
times in the Bible has very negative overtones.
Cain, the first murderer, built the first city (Gen. 4:17). Since that day, the city has become an odd
mixture of marvel and mayhem. Even
today, any great city of any size has this same mixture of marvel and
mayhem. The city is characterized by
constant motion and ear-splitting commotion.
Crime breeds in the city and man continually seeks comfort in refuge
outside the city in the suburbs. Yet,
God has ordained that our eternal lives will be spent in the city.
The reason for spending
eternity in a City goes to the heart of the Divine Act of Redemption -- what
was broken by sin in the fall will be completely restored by The city first established by the
blood-stained hands of a murderer, will be completely restored by the
nail-scarred hands of the Messiah.
The Bible says in Romans
8:22-24:
We
know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth
right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope
we were saved.
The word, “groaning,” relates
to the Hebrew idea of a person who is helpless, stumbling, and about to fall
into some pit or disastrous situation.
Isaiah describes it like this in Isa. 59:10”
10 Like the
blind we grope along the wall,
feeling
our way like men without eyes.
At
midday we stumble as if it were twilight;
among
the strong, we are like the dead.
Sin has fractured our
world. Sin fractured the tight sense of
community, or fellowship man and woman experienced in the Garden of Eden. The world is broken and desperately needs to
be fixed. Redemption repairs that which
is broken. Redemption brings back the
sense of community between man and God and man and man. Cultivating this sense of community is what
the Church should be doing. The church
should be a “repair shop” for a broken world.
The community of the first
family was fractured and each member disconnected from the other. In the New Heaven, community among all is
restored.
Herein lay the mandate for
the church as redeemed citizens headed toward the Resurrected City. We are to Cultivate Community. We are to bring connectedness to our
disconnected world. We are to bring
community where there is so often chaos.
Notice verse 1. John points out a very significant difference
between the Old Heaven and Earth, and this New Heaven and Earth,
"and
there was no longer any sea."
This is significant to our
mission here on earth as ambassadors of the Resurrection City. The sea, in Jewish thought and in Semitic
thought in general symbolized evil and chaos.
It represents the deep divide among people that sin causes. Ultimately, no such divide will exist. Until that day, as citizens of Heaven, we are
to be agents of "good and order."
In other words, we are to establish communities characterized by
unity. We should be making connections
by building bridges of compassion in our cities. This is the ultimate expression of what it
means to be "salt and light" verses "salt-shakers and lamp
shades."
If you think about it: restoration and redemption is really at the
heart of the story of the Wizard of Oz – though not perhaps in the mind of the
author explicitly, it is strongly implied.
As Dorothy is on her way back home (heaven if you will) she builds a
small community of broken people—a scarecrow needing a brain, a Tin Man needing
a heart, and a Cowardly Lion needing courage.
The journey to OZ, like our journey as saints to glory, is about broken
people encouraging one another to keep pressing toward the prize. We may not need a brain, or a heart, or
courage but we all our broken and need something. Community gives us a sense of wholeness
amidst brokenness as we pursue together that destination where the “broken will
be mended.”
Not even Hollywood can
escape the undeniable fact that life is broken and only God can fix it. We, as followers of Christ, must be
cultivating a “new community” connected by the common thread of love for God
and man. This is how a member of the
Resurrection City must operate.
2. My
second consideration in regard to
what we should be doing as citizens on the way to the Resurrected City is that
we should "Encouraging
Service."
Verse
6 is full of meaning in
the context of what a Citizen of Heaven should be like as we travel this path
called, "life." Look at verse
6:
6
He
said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the
End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of
the water of life.
Reading this verse brings
to mind that text in Isaiah 55:1
“Come,
all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come,
buy and eat!
Come,
buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
The powerful truth of the
gospel can be summed up in this short phrase:
“God has something wonderful to give.”
Isaiah
announces this. John the Revelator
announces
this good news. The most beloved and well-known
verse in the Bible announces this great truth:
this good news. The most beloved and well-known
verse in the Bible announces this great truth:
“For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God
did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him.”
God
is the Great Giver and the new life is the great gift.
God’s disciples should be distributors of this great gift. We should
offer the gospel to as many people as we can for as long as we can.
We should give the gospel away packaged in the wrappings of service.
God’s disciples should be distributors of this great gift. We should
offer the gospel to as many people as we can for as long as we can.
We should give the gospel away packaged in the wrappings of service.
As
the church, we imitate God by “giving,” not “taking.” Christianity should be characterized by
service and mission. We can’t simply
“want” a “Better City—Better” life, we have to build one through acts of
sacrificial service. The Church should
constantly be encouraging service.
constantly be encouraging service.
We
have what a thirsty world needs – the Living Water. We have what a hungry world needs – the Bread
of Life. We have what a world stumbling
in darkness needs – the Light of the World.
We
as the church have what the world needs --
we just need to deliver it through continual acts of service.
we just need to deliver it through continual acts of service.
Every
Christian has a spiritual gift from God. 1 Cor. 12:7 says:
7
Now
to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
God does not give us these
spiritual gifts to decorate our lives, but so that our lives can be dedicated
to the mission of the church – bringing others along with us on the yellow
brick road of redemption until we reach the Resurrection City.
If you are a Christian and
you cannot say: “My ministry in and
through the church is . . . ,” and then state clearly and specifically what
you “do” in and through the church on a regular basis, then you are not
fulfilling your call as a follower of Jesus Christ. As Christians, “we are saved to serve”—to be “doers
of the word” (Jam 1:21).
When we get to Heaven, we
will not be waited on hand and foot like some celestial dignitary. We will spend each and every moment of
eternity in service to Our Lord and King, God Almighty. This life is training
for eternity and Jesus set the basis for this training when He said, “If you want to be great in the Kingdom of
God, you must become the servant of all” (Mt. 20:26).
As we head together toward
that gleaming Resurrection City where the Lord Jesus now sits at the Right Hand
of the Father God Almighty, we should be engaged in compassionate acts of
service to others.
Jesus
was not Resurrected so He could become a “Citizen of Heaven” (that’s where He
came from), but He died and rose again so we could become “citizens of the
Resurrection City.” We should act like
that which we say we are: Christ
followers. Christ’s life
was characterized by sacrificial service. This should characterize our lives as well.
was characterized by sacrificial service. This should characterize our lives as well.
One
conclusion I draw from the idea that Christ followers are headed for heaven is
this:
“we should be encouraging acts of
service.”
The
Word says in Hebrews 10:24-25,
24
And
let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.
Let’s
encourage one another to be people on a mission to love God by serving others.
3. We should be anticipating a great inheritance
(v7)
7
He
who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my
son.
When
you are young, you don’t think as much about “heaven” – you are too full of
health, and life, and dreams of adventure.
One
sign of growing old is: you think more
about “heaven” because, quite frankly, you are closer to it (at least
statistically) than you were many years ago.
I’m
about to wax nostalgic, so be forewarned:
My
Mom, Dad, and Brothers’ pictures sit on my desk. Looking at these pictures I realize that they
all currently reside in Resurrection City.
As I think of their passing, I realize once again just how short life
really is. A longing wells up in my
heart.
One of my cousins started a
group on FaceBook called, The Church Family of WV. That is the name of my mother’s side of the
family through my grandmother. She had
13 siblings (a set of twins died shortly after birth). 11 sisters and 2 brothers. All that is left is one “Aunt in Law” who was
married to my great uncle. These 11
great aunts and 2 great uncles were fixtures in my life as a child.
Now, they are all in the
City—the Resurrection City. My daughter
is there. My grandparents are
there. My little brother is there. My Mom and Dad are there.
Many of us have this same
experience. We have dear loved ones on
the other side and from time to time our hearts heart a little from the loss.
The gospel song describes
this experience: “heaven’s sounding sweeter all the time.”
When we think of life and
death and of our eternal home in the Resurrection City for those of us who have
accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are reminded of what awaits. Here in our text the Word says,
7
He
who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my
son.
Exactly, what “all this”
will we as Believer’s inherit when we reach the “Resurrection City.” Let me try to describe it:
9
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 he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and
showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11
It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a
very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a
great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the
gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There
were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three
on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on
them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The angel
who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates
and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it
was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadiaa
in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 He measured its
wall and it was 144 cubitsb thick,c by man’s
measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of
jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The
foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.
The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the
fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the
seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.d 21 The
twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great
street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
22
I
did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring
their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut,
for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the
nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter
it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those
whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
This is really what the
Resurrection is all about. This
is really what the entire Biblical record of redemption is all about – God gathering the chosen together unto Himself to enjoy life with Him forever.
is really what the entire Biblical record of redemption is all about – God gathering the chosen together unto Himself to enjoy life with Him forever.
In your mind’s eye can you
see the Resurrection City gleaming upon the Hill. There, everything that is wrong has been made
right. The broken things have been
repaired. Community has been
restored. Our eternal service of praise
has begun. Our inheritance has been
received. We are at home in the
Resurrection City. What a glorious day
that will be.
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