Revelation 21: 1-6a (Common English Bible)
When read, the book of Revelation chapter 21, could be pictured as a cosmic carnival. There is no perfect way to interpret all the symbolism and metaphors in this mystical book. One can imagine people from every era of time and from all nations singing praises to God and the Lamb of God as they dance, full of joy, as heaven comes down to earth.
Imaging heaven itself is difficult enough, since the Bible says very little about it. But even more difficult is thinking about heaven coming down to earth. Around 17 years ago, I took a class on philosophy at IUS. The most interesting subject I encountered were the ideas of Plato. Plato taught in the invisible world, there existed the perfect “form” or “idea” of everything upon the earth. But what existed on earth was an imperfect form of the perfect in the heavenly realms. If that is true, there is a heavenly Jerusalem which is perfect and an earthly Jerusalem which is not perfect. That is what the Apostle Paul taught when he speaks of the Jerusalem that is above in Galatians 4:26 and also what is in the mind of the writer of Hebrews, when he speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22).
The concept of pre-existing forms may seem strange. But at the back of it is the great truth that the ideal actually exists. It also means that God is the source of the ideal. The ideal is a challenge, which even if it doesn’t work out in this world, it can still be worked out in the world to come. This is why Revelation chapter 21 is read at many funerals and also during All Saints Day. It is comforting, hopeful and promises us God’s full presence on earth at some future date.
John was a very old man when he wrote the Revelation letter. And he wrote this letter when he was exiled to the island of Patmos by the Romans. John had outlived most of the other disciples. John had seen the Church under his care flourish and then scatter under the persecution of the Roman Empire. It was this persecution from Rome that set the background of John’s letter. He knew that suffering can lead to doubts, and he also knew some believers had already given up hope. It has been 60 years since the death of Jesus and still no Second Coming. John wrote to these Christians suffering for their faith, to encourage them not to give up hope.
In Revelation, John pulls open the curtain of heaven and is given a vision of a cosmic battle between God and the Tempter, called “Satan.” The word Revelation can also be called the “Unveiling.” As we study Revelation, we are given a glimpse of that struggle, through metaphorical symbols. John often uses the term “overcome” throughout his letter to the churches throughout Asia Minor, now Turkey. We can also overcome the hardships that come with a life of faith, and there is no greater hardship than facing death.
We often think of the word “passing away” with the connection of death. But in the vision granted to John, it is the first heaven and earth that will pass away. Here, the term doesn’t speak so much of death, as it points us to eternal life. In Revelation, death itself passes away. Mourning, pain and sorrow will exist no more. The old order of things will pass away to make room for the new heaven and new earth.
It might surprise many Christians, but there is nothing in the book of Revelation about going “up” to heaven. Revelation never mentions anything about a Rapture nor does the rest of the Bible. It’s a misunderstanding of what the Apostle Paul wrote in First Thessalonians.
First Thessalonians was the earliest book in the New Testament written around 50 AD. The people in Thessaloniki thought the Second Coming of Christ was imminent and so did Paul. Paul’s symbolic language about clouds was an idiom he used to hasten the appearance of Christ in the minds of believers. His words were intended to bring encouragement to those undergoing persecution. Paul was drawing on the image of a bridal procession going out to meet the bridegroom, in other words, to meet Christ. Even in Revelation 21: 2, this same symbol is used. Somehow over the centuries, marriage customs changed, people forgot about bridal processions that bring the bridegroom home. Later, people got the idea we would meet Christ in the clouds, instead of his manifestation in a new Jerusalem to live forever in a new earth, as John’s Revelation describes.
In John’s Revelation, we do not go to heaven. Heaven comes to us. Salvation is not going to God, but God coming to us. God always intended to be with us and exist with us in a close relationship. But around 100,000 years ago, our primeval ancestors broke from that relationship.
The God we worship is not on the side of violence, revenge, hatred, war, division, greed or fear. God is present in acts of love, peace, justice, equality, respect and unity. God is with present-day civil rights workers and not white supremacists or white nationalists who claim to act in God’s behalf. It is not the atheists and agnostics who are the problem, it is those who claim Christ as their savior but reject everything that Christ taught in the gospels. And there is a word for people like that - antichrist.
Maybe it is impossible to change the whole world all at once. However, it is possible for people to change themselves if they embody the values of Jesus the Christ. There is no room for hatred, bigotry and racism, which some politicians today thrive on. The centuries of bloodshed and hatred in the name of Christ must come to an end. Jesus hated no one and sought healing and a renewed community for all faiths.
This is the hope of resurrection. The old order of things will pass away. God will make everything new. Jesus gave all of us a new commandment, that you love one another. Come I prepare a place for all of you, as Jesus once said.
Today we celebrate the Eucharist on this special All Saints Day. The elements are before us, the bread and wine. As I mentioned earlier about “forms” the Eucharist is a type of form we have now, but the “perfect” will manifest itself when Christ returns to that new earth and heaven where eternal joy will be shared for all.
AMEN.
