"It is Done" Revelation 21:1-6, May 2, 2010

In 1493 Ponce de Leon sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World. From the Hispaniola, Ponce de Leon led a successful expedition to the island of Puerto Rico and established its first permanent European community. It was in Puerto Rico that he began hearing stories from the natives of a "fountain of youth." The natives said that on the island of Bimini, a small island in the Bahamas, there was a fountain that if you drank or bathed in its sweet, perpetual waters "it would make old men young."

Excited about the prospect of finding a fountain of eternal life, he convinced King Ferdinand of Spain to authorize an expedition to Bimini. Ponce de Leon agreed to underwrite with his own funds the expenses of the voyage. On March 3, 1512, he set sail with sixty men in three small ships.

On April 2, he landed in Florida and claimed it for Spain. For seven months he traversed the peninsula looking for the fountain. One of his ships eventually did find the island of Bimini, but no one has ever located "the fountain of youth."

We all want the fountain of youth.

We all want to feel good.

But life gets us down.

•      War

•      Volcanoes

•       Earthquakes

•       Politicians are not listening to our needs. The populace does not trust them any more due to there mis-management of our tax dollars, cramming a health care bill down our throats while exempting themselves from it

•       The news is very negative and can bring us down

•       Sometimes religion, itself, or false teachings can cause us consternation.

Isn’t it interesting that this is the second week I have delivered a sermon that I have only previously used in a funeral setting.

The Lectionary readings have these scriptures placed where they are for a reason, and have had them for centuries. 

•      There is evidence of a lectionary, or an organized set of readings to be read going back to the 1st Century and the reading of the Torah.

•       By the 5th Century books containing full texts of selected biblical readings appeared.

I think it is so because the people, even those close to the resurrection wanted to be reminded of the good news.  The good news of God with us.

Hear now the Lectionary reading for today from the Jerusalem Bible:

 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, there was no longer any sea.  I saw the holy city, and the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband.  Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘You see this city? Here God lives among men.  He will make his home among them; they shall be His people, and He will be their God; His name is ‘God-with-them’.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness.  The world of the past has gone.’”Then the one sitting on the throne spoke;  “Now I am making the whole of creation new,” He said.  “Write this: that what I am saying is sure and will come true.”  And then He said, “It is already done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty; it is the rightful inheritance of the one who proves victorious; and I will be his God, and he a son to me.  But the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word, or worship obscenities, for murderers and fornicators, and for fortune tellers, idolaters, or any other sort of liars, is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur.” 

I know the book of Revelation is troubling to many.  We have heard many interpretations about the text. 

•  The first heaven and first earth are no more.

•  The New Jerusalem is coming down from heaven.

•  Is this talking about the life after our earthly life and death?

•  Is this new Jerusalem really heaven?

•  After all the author says there will be NO MORE DEATH, no more tears, no more mourning, no more sadness, it must be heaven, right?

No!  The writer is describing what will happen after God puts an end to the persecutor.

• The word used for new actually does NOT mean all new, but rather TRANSFORMED.  Therefore we can read the text as follows: “I saw a transformed heaven and a transformed earth.”

• Why?  What brought about this transformation? 

• The sea is gone

• What is the sea?  To the people of this era, the sea was CHAOS, where the beast who persecuted the people came from.  The writer says that the sea is now gone, ergo the beast/persecutor is gone.  Therefore with the Beast/persecutor gone a NEW AGE has been ushered in with no more persecution.

• God is living among humanity.

• The DEATH the writer is talking about, in fact the death the writer has talked about throughout the entire book is not just death in general, but rather it is the “Martyr’s death”, or the death of faithful followers of Christ that are murdered for their beliefs, and their unwillingness to renounce Christ as Lord and Savior.  Therefore since the persecution is ended there is no more “Martyrs death” on earth.

• God says: “It is already done!” not that it will be done.  It has already been accomplished

• I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

• The New Jerusalem, the transformed heaven and earth are here on earth. And are transformed because God has intervened, God has come down to be among His creation.

• Christ came to this world and dwelt among us, showing us God’s love, correcting the wrong/bad information that the religious leaders had propagated for so long. 

• When Christ was crucified and rose from the dead, he walked among the Apostles continuing to teach, and reassure them.  When He ascended he promised them that He was going to the Father, but he was NOT leaving them abandoned or orphaned.  He promised them the Holy Spirit would come upon them empowering them to continue His work, guiding them forever, and “Lo He would also be with them FOREVER!”

This is indeed GOOD NEWS!!

• God is with us

• God has transformed the earth.

• God has removed the persecutor, the one holding us over the precipice of hell with faulty doctrines and misunderstanding.

• God has defeated death Hell and the grave.

• The sting of death is NO MORE, we have an eternal home with God when this earthly pilgrimage is over.

• We have a home NOT MADE WITH HUMAN HANDS ETERNAL IN THE HEAVENS.

• Even though the world seems to be spinning out of control, and we are helpless, we can have peace in our hearts knowing that

• God cares for us,

• God is with us,

The message of the book of Revelation is told through the scripture as salvation history, the story of how God has saved his people through many new creations. The story begins as it should at the outset with creation. The creation story in Genesis is laden with hope, possibility, and new life. Each of the six days God created something new, giving the world more and more possibilities. God first created light so that the further creation would be seen. Then God created the oceans and the land, thus providing an environment for what was planned. God then created all manner of vegetation and animals. All was readied for God's greatest creation, that of humankind, made in the divine image.

            God next provided new beginnings for the Israelites as they fled from bondage in Egypt. God opened the Red Sea, allowing Israel to escape, but setting a trap for Egypt to be destroyed. The people traveled to the promised land and made themselves into a great nation under David. However, the people often wandered away from God and, thus, the Lord sent prophets who proclaimed God's message. When necessary, it was a message of warning and at times doom, but in the end, God's faithfulness prevailed. God gave the Hebrews new life from their death in exile in Babylon. As Ezekiel prophesied (37:1-14) God would bring new life to the dead bones of Israel. In his letter to the Romans (6:3-11), Saint Paul speaks of how Christ gave us new life through baptism. The final chapter of the salvation history story comes in the paschal mystery, the events we have just recently celebrated, the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Christ makes all things new through his conquest of death. His victory brings the same possibility to all who bear his name.

            The new creation that Jesus brings forces us to ask an important question - what needs renewal, restoration, and new life in our lives? No matter our age, status in life, or primary day-to-day work we all can use new beginnings and must rejoice in the hope that Jesus' resurrection brings. Maybe we have felt stagnant in our prayer, our nine-to-five job, or our relationship with God. Possibly we need renewal in a relationship - in our family, with friends, associates at work, or people who live in our neighborhood. Some may feel held bound by past hurts, inflicted upon our person or ones we have inflicted on others. Still others may find the routine of daily life a downward spiral from which we seemingly cannot escape. Today, however, God releases us from our bondage, as assuredly as the Jews were freed from Egypt and Jesus was raised from death. The new creation of Christ is ours for the taking.

            The new creation we seek may seem very elusive when we observe our contemporary world. It may seem that God is not creating anything new, but if we believe this to be true, then we are not looking in the right places. In many ways the new creation of Christ is up to us, we must have sufficient trust in God to find and experience the renewal we seek and need. A beautiful little story demonstrates our need to renew our trust in God.

            A man who was with God in Heaven once looked into time and saw the many atrocities perpetrated in the human realm. Absolutely aghast at what he saw, he asked God, "How can you allow this? Look what evil is in motion down there on earth!" The Lord responded, "There is no one better than the devil for creating a tragedy like that." "But," replied the man, "that man that is hurting and crying is one of your people." Again God responded, "I gave humankind the freedom to choose between good and evil. Sometimes those who choose my way are injured by those who don't. It is always painful when this happens." But the man interrupted, "Those people have no choice. Evil is being crammed down their throats. That isn't a choice!" "Hold on" God said patiently, "have I ever let pain go un-avenged?" "Well, no," came the reply.

            "Watch this," God said . The Lord placed his arm around his shoulders and said, "Look over there. See that man." "Is he praying?"  "Ah, yes," God said, "and you should hear his prayers!" Intense love flashed in God's eyes. The Lord continued, "Simple prayers from an aching heart. This is triumph over evil. Trusting me, that is the choice. Isn't he magnificent?"

            Together they stood in silence and the man began to see as God did. "Now watch this," God spoke softly, never letting his eyes depart from the scene. He called for Michael, the archangel, who immediately appeared. "Go down and get him, Michael," God commanded as tears of divine joy flowed forth. "I will arrange the party."

            Let us cast off our slavery to the old world, our old way of life, and place sufficient trust in God's words, "See, I am making all things new." Our trust in God and our surrender to his way will bring us the gift of eternal life, God's promise to all who believe.

What is required of us to obtain this?

• To stay the course

• To not be swayed to follow others in their lives of sin.

• To be true to God.

• If we stay the course there will be no judgment.

• If we falter there will be judgment.

We too need to be reminded that God is with us.  Not just when life ends, but NOW while we are living our lives in a transformed world.

• Jesus has come

• Christ /God has come among us

• Assuring us of God’s

•  awesome love,

•  merciful forgiveness

•   Abundant grace

• God has defeated the persecutor/Satan

• Therefore the sting of death is removed.  We know that death hell and the grave are defeated.  Christ assured the disciples and us that He is preparing our eternal home and will greet us on that day we breathe our last earthly breath, and escort us to our eternal home.

Therefore what have we to dread?   What have we to fear?   We, who stay the course, follow our Lord and Savior can be filled with joy, gladness, peace, and assurance as we live our lives today.