Message of the Month: Revelation 21 v 1-6 - November 3rd
All Saints Day is at the start of November and is followed immediately by All Souls Day – when as Christians we celebrate great servants of God who have preceded us and remember people we are now bereft of, separated by death.
This reading from Revelation takes us to almost the final section of what God showed the Apostle John in what we might call mystical experiences. It offers some clues to a question we may mull over when acknowledging the death of those who have gone before us: ‘What is heaven like?’ 2 things set this glimpse in context - as revealed to John and shared with us.
First: at the outset of John’s great mystical experiences, reported in chapter 1, we are told he saw Jesus risen, ascended and glorified. Everything that follows is in the light of Jesus’ preeminent position as the King of Heaven. The second is what God has to say about judgement which concludes at the end of chapter 20.
We approach the nature of heaven in the light of who we know Jesus to be as King of heaven and how his life, death, resurrection on earth settled the price of judgement due to the sinfulness human beings opted for, commencing in the Garden.
If you wonder about the difference between vision and dreams -A dream is what you see when you're asleep; whereas visions usually occur when you are awake, often much clearer and less ambiguous in meaning than their dream counterparts.
Many people carry a view of heaven derived from a limited grasp of what Jesus says in John 14 ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms …I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come and take you to where I am.’ From this it’s not uncommon to hear people saying something along these lines: ‘I’m sure our Tom/Nancy/Mum or grandpa is looking down on us from his reserved spot close to God.’ It may bring some sort of comfort but in truth dilutes our understanding of salvation to little more than pie in the sky when we die!
WHEREAS, what Jesus was really saying in John 14 is about the underlying divine purpose in his imminent death; how that becomes the pivot on which human history turns, rather than suggesting we start imagining the décor and soft furnishing in our reserved plot.
Instead let’s see what God tells us through John to focus on.
John was shown God’s Plan A rebooted. He saw,
1. A new heaven and a new earth: the perfection that existed before sin entered and disrupted life on earth and breached the relationship being restored. Accepting the reality of sin disfigured the created order, we may not always grasp how this left the community of heaven bereft of the counterpart established by God and watching over a troubled and warring world.
He heard,
2. A voice announcing, the dwelling place of God is with us. What was known whereby God would walk with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day (as indicated in Genesis chapter 3) becomes the norm again – no more exclusion or barriers to fellowship because the breach created by sin has been repaired in Christ.
He discovers,
3. He will wipe away every tear … death no more …neither mourning, crying nor pain … Where we live and the context in which we can serve the Lord will no longer be potholed by the consequences of sin and brokenness.
If we can ditch a misplaced view of heaven (from a place to breathe a sigh of relief because we have escaped this world’s trauma) we can begin to grasp the reality of a better metaphor (not pie in the sky when we die but…) steak on the plate while we wait!
Because of our trust in Jesus as Messiah/Saviour, through the HS, in the here and now, we begin to taste the full bounty of heaven.
Heaven when fully made known becomes the full realisation of all God planned and purposed – a life of fruitfulness, in fellowship with HIM and free from the shame and sorrows we have come to expect and assume is our lot. John now knew the end game and through him so do we. It has big implications: when we focus through the lens of John’s vision, our whole perspective on life, death and what is to come is transformed.
All Saints Day is at the start of November and is followed immediately by All Souls Day – when as Christians we celebrate great servants of God who have preceded us and remember people we are now bereft of, separated by death.
This reading from Revelation takes us to almost the final section of what God showed the Apostle John in what we might call mystical experiences. It offers some clues to a question we may mull over when acknowledging the death of those who have gone before us: ‘What is heaven like?’ 2 things set this glimpse in context - as revealed to John and shared with us.
First: at the outset of John’s great mystical experiences, reported in chapter 1, we are told he saw Jesus risen, ascended and glorified. Everything that follows is in the light of Jesus’ preeminent position as the King of Heaven. The second is what God has to say about judgement which concludes at the end of chapter 20.
We approach the nature of heaven in the light of who we know Jesus to be as King of heaven and how his life, death, resurrection on earth settled the price of judgement due to the sinfulness human beings opted for, commencing in the Garden.
If you wonder about the difference between vision and dreams -A dream is what you see when you're asleep; whereas visions usually occur when you are awake, often much clearer and less ambiguous in meaning than their dream counterparts.
Many people carry a view of heaven derived from a limited grasp of what Jesus says in John 14 ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms …I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come and take you to where I am.’ From this it’s not uncommon to hear people saying something along these lines: ‘I’m sure our Tom/Nancy/Mum or grandpa is looking down on us from his reserved spot close to God.’ It may bring some sort of comfort but in truth dilutes our understanding of salvation to little more than pie in the sky when we die!
WHEREAS, what Jesus was really saying in John 14 is about the underlying divine purpose in his imminent death; how that becomes the pivot on which human history turns, rather than suggesting we start imagining the décor and soft furnishing in our reserved plot.
Instead let’s see what God tells us through John to focus on.
John was shown God’s Plan A rebooted. He saw,
1. A new heaven and a new earth: the perfection that existed before sin entered and disrupted life on earth and breached the relationship being restored. Accepting the reality of sin disfigured the created order, we may not always grasp how this left the community of heaven bereft of the counterpart established by God and watching over a troubled and warring world.
He heard,
2. A voice announcing, the dwelling place of God is with us. What was known whereby God would walk with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day (as indicated in Genesis chapter 3) becomes the norm again – no more exclusion or barriers to fellowship because the breach created by sin has been repaired in Christ.
He discovers,
3. He will wipe away every tear … death no more …neither mourning, crying nor pain … Where we live and the context in which we can serve the Lord will no longer be potholed by the consequences of sin and brokenness.
If we can ditch a misplaced view of heaven (from a place to breathe a sigh of relief because we have escaped this world’s trauma) we can begin to grasp the reality of a better metaphor (not pie in the sky when we die but…) steak on the plate while we wait!
Because of our trust in Jesus as Messiah/Saviour, through the HS, in the here and now, we begin to taste the full bounty of heaven.
Heaven when fully made known becomes the full realisation of all God planned and purposed – a life of fruitfulness, in fellowship with HIM and free from the shame and sorrows we have come to expect and assume is our lot. John now knew the end game and through him so do we. It has big implications: when we focus through the lens of John’s vision, our whole perspective on life, death and what is to come is transformed.