End Times #12 Telos—The Journeys End (Rev 21-22)
John’s vision of Jesus and his instruction on how we are to live as disciples of
Jesus comes to its conclusion with the picture of fellowship with God
completely restored.
This is the completion of the ministry of Christ;
This is the victory that has been won for all those who abide in Jesus;
This is the inheritance of the faithful.
Revelation 21:1-5 (MSG)
I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone." The Enthroned continued, "Look! I'm making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate."
A new created Heaven and earth is a way of saying that the creation is set right.
Not replaced, mind you.
But made new.
Like in the beginning, before the Fall, when all things were
righteous.
The curse is removed.
[
Consider this expectation in 1 Enoch 45:4-5; 2 Esdras 7:75 and 2 Peter 3:10-13 and also Matthew 19:28 "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
“The statement that the sea was no more indicates the radical difference between the redeemed order and the old fallen order. This idea appears in Jewish apocalyptic (Sibylline Oracles 5:447; Assumption of Moses 10:6)…in the ancient world … the sea represented the realm of the dark, the mysterious, and the treacherous (note Isaiah 57:20, Psalms 107:25-28; Ezekiel 28:8) The abolition of the sea suggest that there is practically no substantial continuity between the old fallen order and the new redeemed order.” (Ladd, p. 276)
Also consider Jubilees 1:29; 1 Enoch 91:16; 2 Barrack 57:2; 44:12; 2 Esdras 7:75 which all speak of a universal renovation of the created order.
]
This Earth is our home.
God designed it for us and now at the conclusion of John’s vision,
Its not a moving out of the neighborhood,
Its not even an extreme make over,
It’s a setting everything back the way it was made
for us.
Romans 8:22-23 (NIV)
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 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.
We have this idea that heaven is where we end up.
But that’s not what John sees.
John sees us here, a here made right.
[
John…”leaves us with the … indelible impression that heaven is belonging to the family of God” (Mounce, p. 374)
]
That’s one reason I think all Believers need to be concerned about the stewardship
of the planet.
In the Garden humanity is given the task to care for the Earth.
But sin has caused us to be like strip miners.
This making things new is also a word of hope to the persecuted Church.
Remember that the original audience for the Revelation were seven
Congregations
Most of which were embattled.
What better news to hear than it’s not always going to be like this.
The time is coming and is here when the tables are turned.
There is a place called home. (Hebrews 11:16)
Jerusalem comes down like a bride walking down the aisle.
Everything that Babylon is not, Jerusalem is.
Jerusalem “the dwelling place of God,
The true homeland of the saints.” (Ladd, p. 276)
It’s where those who abide in Christ make their homes.
But remember the fluidity with which John writes.
Jerusalem morphs with greater meaning.
[
“It is a city which is a family. The ideal of perfect community, unrealizable on earth because of the curse of sin which vitiated the first creation, is now embodied in the redeemed from all nations.” (Mounce p. 370)
]
The last time that the one enthroned in unapproachable light was in the
neighborhood was in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:8-9 (NIV)
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
Since the fall
God walked the earth, incarnate.
Jesus dwelt among us (John 1:14)
God indwelt his church in Spirit (Ephesians 2:22)
But now its like in Eden.
Faith has been made sight.
“all the promises of God’s covenant with men,
made first through Abraham,
renewed through Moses,
and embodied in Christ,
are at last brought to full realization.” (Ladd, p. 277)
[
Leviticus 26:11-12; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 37:27; Zechariah 8:8
]
“Salvation in the biblical sense is not only the salvation of the soul; it includes the
redemption of the body and even of the physical environment.”
(Ladd, p. 278)
You’ve been saved when you are walking the streets of New
Jerusalem.
(Hebrew 12:22; Galatians 4:26; Philippians 3:20)
It’s here that all that caused tears of sadness and suffering are wiped away.
No more death, no more pain,
Evil no longer has a place, its gone with the first order of things.
Recall when John wept because there was no one who could bring salvation for
mankind about. (Rev 5:4)
Those tears are wiped away. [Isaiah 35:10; 65:19]
We get a taste of this new order of things when we first abide in Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
The new birth is the down payment on what is to come. (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16-18)
You are made right and being made right and one day that work will be
completed, and all the old ways of living will be gone forever and you
will be like God always intended for you to be.
Revelation 21:6-8 (MSG)
Then he said, "It's happened. I'm A to Z. I'm the Beginning, I'm the Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty. Conquerors inherit all this. I'll be God to them, they'll be sons and daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless, degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—for them it's Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!"
Again John gives believers reason to remain steadfast in their faith,
It is those who live a holy life that inherit.
I can’t help but ponder a question for myself.
Here’s my private musings.
I am a conqueror,
First by accepting the fact that I’m, a
Sinner, deterring, damaging and destroying relationships.
Believing that only Jesus can redeem me.
Committing myself to a life of change
through discipleship.
Second by facing off in my own personal Armageddon,
And defeating my own anti-christ—egoism and
My own false prophet—the anti-god world views I
embrace.
Third by not conforming to the ways of Babylon instead,
By my word of my testimony and if necessary my blood,
Overcoming through ferocious love those who
oppose the coming of the Kingdom.
It’s by all three, that I am a conqueror
It’s by Living life to the full,
All three, that I get to drink the Water-of-Life.
It’s by all three, that I am a devout disciple and get to eat from
the tree of life.
So I have got to ask my self—
Am I, right this second, using God’s empowerment to
live a holy life?
“The feckless and faithless” are “the rootless ones of the Parable of the Sower who
‘when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word,
immediately fall away” (Matthew 13:21). (Mounce, p 375)
Titus 1:16 (NIV)
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
We are to seek God with all our hearts, and then we will find Him.
We are to love God with all our heart,
As we do we live holy lives.
Ultimately I make the choices to do so.
God supplies all I need to succeed,
But I need to use those resources.
Revelation 21:9-11 (MSG)
One of the Seven Angels who had carried the bowls filled with the seven final disasters spoke to me: "Come here. I'll show you the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb." He took me away in the Spirit to an enormous, high mountain and showed me Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God, resplendent in the bright glory of God. The City shimmered like a precious gem, light-filled, pulsing light.
An angel took John to see how the whore Babylon was dressed,
And keeping with his symmetry, we see the Bride as a beautiful city.
Babylon is the estranged humanity’s making, “symbolizing the
unbridled passion and evil of mankind.” (Mounce, p. 377)
Jerusalem “descends from heaven, the epitome of all that is pure and
beautiful.” (Mounce, p. 377)
New Jerusalem, the dwelling place of the righteous is shinning with the glory of
God, resplendent.
And remember glory can mean presence.
Is New Jerusalem a building?
I think it’s the redeemed of God who are transformed into the
image and likeness of Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-5 & 1 Corinthians 3:16 & 6:19 (NIV)
As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.…Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? …Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
The Christians are the bride of Christ.
All the dimensions of the city are 12 and the multiples of 12.
12 is the symbol for God’s holy people. (vs. 15-17)
[
“This particular shape would immediately remind the Jewish reader of the inner sanctuary of the temple (a perfect cube, each dimension being twenty cubits; 1 Kings 6:20), the place of divine presence.” (Mounce , p 380)
]
John will continue to describe the Bride of Christ as New Jerusalem
the city of God, but remember he is talking about all those who
are faithful.
[
Leon Morris makes what I consider a curious observation concerning the gem stones described in vs.19-20. The list of 12 stones, he suggests, represents constellations, or the signs of the zodiac. He notes that the order in which they appear to travel across the sky is reversed. Concluding that it’s a picture that in “the end God reverses human judgments.” (Morris, p. 252) But there is just no way I can wrap my head around this. First astrology seems to be condemned in scripture (Deuteronomy 18:14; Isaiah 47:13) Second, the Breastplate of the High Priest is covered with 12 stones that represent the tribes of Israel. (Exodus 28:15-21) Third, in this passage John is describing the people of God. So even though I do not yet have an explanation for the list of the 12 stones, I am pretty sure that they some how refer to God’s people. For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people" 2 Cor 6:16 (NIV). Recall in Revelation 4:3 the gem stones that are listed, of note Jasper. And then in Revelation 21:11 the New International Version reads that the city shines like Jasper, verse 18 the walls are made of Jasper, and then in verse 19 the first layer of foundation is Jasper. If you follow the symbol through I think you see that jasper is one of the gem stones that “speaks of the glorious presence of God.” (Mounce p. 381) But there may be a far simpler explanation; the description of the city is given to convey its absolute splendor and magnificence. The people of God have become glorious.
]
As we read on we see the inclusiveness of the faith family,
The gates are inscribed with the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (v. 12)
(Ezekiel 48:31)
For certainly the faith of ancient Israel is the doorway into a new life
in Christ.
And there are twelve foundation stones upon which the walls of the city rest,
these inscribed with the names of the Apostles. (vs. 14)
The Bride of Christ, New Jerusalem represents God’s faithful
throughout the history of humanity.
There is no place of worship in the City,
There is no Temple, for there is no need. (v.22—John 4:21)
Worship and service are immediate and direct.
One does not have to go to meet with God,
God is present with them.
There is not need of external light for the Lamb is the light in the city of God. (v.23—Isaiah 60:1-3)
No darkness exists, the symbol for evil.
The shadows have all been dealt with.
The time of the Dragon was an age of darkness.
The time of God is an age of light.
[
Verse 24 is difficult to understand. “The nations will walk in its light and earth's kings bring in their splendor” (Rev 21:24 (MSG). Isaiah 60:1-3 maybe the source from which John is drawing. Of course there is no consensus of the scholars as to how to interpret the verse. Very similar concerns were raised when we considered Revelation 20:8-9 the armies of Gog and Magog. Who are these people outside the holy city, the family of God, who comprise the nations?
This makes me look to the extra biblical material mentioned previously. Where is John drawing his imagery from?
It is possible that John is thinking about the fulfillment of prophecies concerning Israel becoming a light to the nations, that the peoples of the world would come and learn the ways of God (Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:12; 45: 22; 49:6; 51:5; 55:5; 56:6-8; 66:19; Jeremiah 3:17; 16:19-21; Zephaniah 2:11; 3:9; Zechariah 2:!3; 8:20-23; 14:9) This same theme is seen is the Apocrypha (Tobit 13:11; 14:6). And then from those Jewish Apocalyptic writings mentioned previously (Enoch 48:4-5; 10:21; Sibylline Oracles 3:710-723; Wisdom of Solomon 17:4), there is a similar notion.
Could John be giving a glimpse of some sort of universalism? Universalism is the thought that “God is not content to save a few martyrs, and let the rest of humankind perish along with all human culture.” (Mounce, pp. 384-385) The work of Christ is so powerful that after a time of punishment God pulls the unrepentant out of the lake of fire. Even though this is a wonderful idea, I have a very difficult time with the concept. George Eldon Ladd suggests an another view: “In the divine consummation, the redeemed will consist of peoples from every nation and tribe and people and tongue (Rev 7:9) who will not lose their national identity. John’s language means no more that than statements of the prophets…” (Ladd, 284).
The question I have with this explanation is that all throughout Revelation, the “nations” and the “kings of the earth” have represented those opposed to God, I don’t like to switch the meaning of the symbols. So here is my alternate explanation, my speculation: After the Millennial reign Satan gathers up everyone he can for one final rebellion. This rebellion is utterly steamrolled (Rev 20:7-9). But does it include every human being? Is everyone seduced by the Dragon (except of course those who have followed the Lamb). Is there a remnant that repopulates the earth and these comprise the nations outside of New Jerusalem that John speaks of?
Even though this is my speculation, I’ve got problems with it because it seems far too literal for the interpretive stance we adopted at the out set of this study. I’m arguing with myself here. For now I’m left with a mystery.
]
Revelation 22:1-5 (MSG)
Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they'll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age.
The source of the river of life is God,
Life is victorious over death.
Eternal life flows watering the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life was blocked in Genesis,
but now all can eat of it fruit.
(Genesis 2:9; 3:22; Ezekiel 47:12; Zechariah 14:8)
The tree of life is continually producing fruit,
A symbol of God adequate and abundant provision. (Mounce, p. 387)
[
Similar to the discussion of verse 24, 22:3, “the healing of the nations” presents the same challenges. Mounce writes: “ imagery borrowed from the present state of affairs is carried over into the description of the eternal state. The glory of the age to come is necessarily portrayed by means of imagery belonging to the present age” (Mounce, p.386). Food for thought.
]
God is at the center of all things.
When God is at the center everything revolves around Him.
Life is in balance.
Life, abundant life, flows from God.
And then the most exciting verse in the book—
“They will look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God.”
The pure in heart shall see God, Jesus told us. (Matthew 5:8)
1 John 3:2-3 (NIV)
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
To look upon His face and to mirror Him is to have returned fully to the
image and likeness of the One who created us.
Forever more we will be righteous.
In theology class we call that glorifying grace.
It is the finish line that begins life eternal.
God is with us and we are with God in every way imaginable.
We reflect His glory,
We are what humanity was always meant to be.
The question rises: when?
When is all this going to take place?
Jesus tells us--
Revelation 22:7 (MSG)
And tell them, 'Yes, I'm on my way!'
We are tempted to say—
you may be on your way Jesus but you sure are taking the scenic route
because its been a long time.
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Still we are not satisfied.
We want to know how long till He arrives.
I often think we want to know so we know how long we’ve got to get
our act together.
Some of us still live in the fallacy of cheap grace.
That we can go on living the way egoism dictates and
then at the last possible moment surrender totally
to Jesus.
We love our dalliances with the World,
Our compromises with the Culture,
Our secret sins.
But as we have seen, God takes sin very seriously.
So we play a game of how close can I come to the
edge without falling off.
So with ulterior motives we wonder,
How much longer do I have till Jesus comes?
Jesus tells us--
Revelation 22:12-13 (MSG)
Yes, I'm on my way! I'll be there soon! I'm bringing my payroll with me. I'll pay all people in full for their life's work. I'm A to Z, the First and the Final, Beginning and Conclusion.
[
In our study of the Book of Revelation I have not attempted to harmonize the interpretation with other verses of scripture that speak of the end. I wanted the author to speak to us to shape our thoughts. I think we may create problems for ourselves when we try to harmonize what different authors have written at different times to different audiences, using different styles of writing. There is harmony in the informing theology, the inspiration for what is written, but how that truth is communicated my make it impossible to fit on some sort of calendar. With that caveat posited I draw your attention to 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” The judgment seat of Christ is different from the judgment that we read of in Rev 20:11-15. The judgment seat of Christ is what Eugene Peterson has so aptly paraphrased, “payroll.” Believers will give an account for their life’s work and be rewarded accordingly. If I attempt to harmonize this with what John has revealed to us, I would have to place this event soon after the unification of the Church (popularly called the rapture) and before the parousia (the Second Coming). The thought of a Believers accounting for what they have done is also echoed in the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Not only are disciples to be faithful, they are also to be fruitful, having used every resource and opportunity afforded them by God the Holy Spirit to ferociously love others.
]
Or maybe we find ourselves in the midst of suffering and persecution
and we want to know how much longer we need to hold out.
We can see too much of the sin of this world,
The devastated lives, the horror and atrocity humanity afflicts
upon itself.
We’re pained by the violence and injustice that is
rampant.
We feel helpless to do anything about
It
Maybe our own bodies are racked with pain.
We long for release
So we cry out How long Jesus?
And Jesus tells us:
Revelation 22:20 (MSG)
He who testifies to all these things says it again: "I'm on my way! I'll be there soon!"
Live your life with that hope,
With that expectancy.
We win, and the victory party will be soon.