Scripture reading: Isaiah 25:6-9.

Sermon text: Revelation 21:1-7.

The Church lives in the temporal with an eye to the eternal.

Events in the United States occupied much of our attention this month. Between a major  hurricane hammering over 66 million people and a crucial national election, we’ve mostly focused on life in this world for the past 11 days. Yet, the Church must always remember our dual nature, both temporal and eternal.

Most of the Church celebrated the Feast Day of All Saints last week, but our passages today come from the All Saints readings. Yes, I know that Southern Baptists don’t usually celebrate All Saints; yes, I know that most Southern Baptists see the liturgical calendar as something to avoid. In my case, I’ve found that All Saints helps me maintain the proper perspective. I cannot obsess about the problems of my time when the history of the Church tells me that we’ve survived worse.

St. John’s vision in today’s sermon text reminds us of an eternal City that precedes and will outlast everything we see in our history and endure in our present. While suffering exile on Patmos, St. John experienced a glorious vision of an eternal future that awaits all those who live and die in the Christian faith. Most people in the American Church in particular need a reminding today that our current issues do not constitute a problem for our God.

In his vision recorded the book of the Revelation, St. John saw the vast sweep of human history and the final defeat of Satan and sin. In chapter 19, St. John saw Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Son of God, led the “armies of heaven” into battle and defeated the armies that will gather to oppose His rule. In chapter 20, St. John saw that Satan’s last gasp will also fail, resulting in his final judgment and in the condemnation of everyone who refused to accept Jesus’ rightful rule over creation. St. Paul’s prophecy to the Philippians describes the ultimate acclamation of Jesus’ reign by every human and angel ever created: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

In the sermon text, St. John “saw a new heaven and a new earth.” Why would God create a new heaven and a new earth? The new heaven and earth all believers will inhabit will never know the effects of humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Sin and death entered the world when Adam fell. In the new creation, we will never experience sin, temptation, illness, or death. According to St. John, “the sea was no more.” In Revelation 13, the beast Satan used to rule the world arose from the sea. In the Old Testament, the sea represented chaos among the Gentile nations. In the new creation, chaos and sin will never appear to ruin what God creates.

Instead of a sea, St. John saw “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Jerusalem has always held a special place in the salvation history of humanity. God chose Jerusalem as the place for His temple under David’s dynasty (1 Kings 11). The sins of David’s descendants and their nation resulted in judgment on Israel, but God never forgot Jerusalem. Instead, God promised to redeem Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:9; Isaiah 65:19). Unfortunately, Jerusalem has endured destruction several times since Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion in 586 B.C., including twice by the Romans. Today, Jerusalem lives constantly in the shadow of invasion by Arabs and the threat of annihilation by other enemies. Only in the new creation will Jerusalem dwell completely in safety and security.

How do we know that the new Jerusalem will never suffer as the temporal Jerusalem has suffered? How do we know that everyone who lives in her new creation will live eternally in safety, without the threat of sin? We find our answer in verse 3. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’” Sin cannot exist in the presence of God Himself. Satan will never enter the new creation as he did the first, so we will never have to endure temptation. The sufferings of humanity in this creation will not appear in the new creation: “‘[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” None of the suffering that brings pain, mourning, and crying will exist. Death, the penalty for sin (Romans 6:23), will not appear because sin will not exist.

St. John then heard great words that bring hope to everyone; God Himself spoke and said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” The new heaven and new earth will surpass anything we can imagine. We can trust God to accomplish this, because He told St. John, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Following this, St. John heard God say, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” The eternal God both began the creation and will end it. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6); those who thirst for righteousness will forever receive the water of life. Everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection, “conquers” sin and death, not through our own power, but through the victory of Jesus over sin and death through His crucifixion and resurrection. God promises that everyone who believes in Jesus receives “the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

Does this passage mean anything to us today?

I believe this passage should comfort us as we remember those who have died in the faith. Those we’ve “lost” to death now enjoy eternal rest from sin; they now live eternally in the presence of their loving Father and His Son, whose death and resurrection insure their eternal life.

This passage should also remind us again that we have no reason for fear in our lives. I know that some people saw the results of last week’s elections here in America and wondered if our nation will continue its prominence in world events. Others examined the polls and pondered whether the Church will face persecution in the near future. I’d remind you that St. John wrote this book because of a vision he experienced on the Isle of Patmos because of Domitian’s persecution of the Church in the first century A.D.

Will our nation withstand the changes some fear? I don’t know. I do know that the Church has outlived nations throughout her history and will do so again. Will the Church experience persecution? Actually, believers already endure persecution throughout the world. St. John’s vision in the Revelation practically ensures the Church will experience persecution at some point in the future, a persecution that may well threaten her existence (Revelation 13:7). In spite of this promised persecution, we must constantly remember that Jesus has defeated sin and death with His death and resurrection, and St. John’s vision promises He will defeat evil completely in the future.

Even as believers rest securely in our inevitable victory, I believe we need to keep another lesson in mind.

No one can examine last Tuesday’s elections without wondering about the morality of our nation. I know some people will despair as the results of the elections begin to affect the nation. It may surprise you that the election results don’t bother me. Instead, I hope that American Christians will finally realize that we should never pin our hopes for a Christian nation on a single political party, much less on the political process itself. I’ve seen Christians, especially Evangelicals, support the same party for over 30 years now, and that party has never delivered on any promise to enforce Christian morality.

Instead, I hope that Christians will finally realize that political power can never substitute for individual evangelism through a godly lifestyle and worship. We must allow the Holy Spirit to use us to carry the gospel to our families, neighbors, and friends. Only the presence of the Holy Spirit in a changed heart can lead to godly living.

In our existence in this life — in the temporal — we deal with the misery caused by sin, both our own sin and the sin of others around us. We witness the effects of sin in history as we see nations rise and fall. We see how pride mars our relationships and leads to oppression, insults, and destruction. St. John gloriously reminds us that believers should never fear the future, because this passage describes our sure and certain future in Christ. Regardless of what your eye tells you in this world, never lose sight of your future through the death and resurrector of Jesus, our Savior and Lord.