I. Giving God the Glory 00:00
Lord Jesus, we just thank you for your presence here this morning. We thank you for the ways that you show up in our life and you bring new life to us. Lord, I pray, as we dive into your word this morning, that you would continue to set our hearts ablaze, Lord, with understanding and with transformation, by the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen.
So, I’ve got to start with a quick story. A few weeks ago, maybe a month or so ago now, my mom and my dad were on a walk, and my dad was quiet, which, if you know Ed, is really weird. And so my mom said, “Why are you so quiet?” And he goes, “Well, I don’t know. I’m on this walk, and I just feel like I’m not in shape. I’ve been working out. I’ve been eating right. I’ve been doing all these things, and I just feel this tightness in my chest and this pain in my throat.” My mom, being a nurse, goes, “That’s weird. We’re on a regular flat walk. What are you talking about?” And so she told him, “Okay, you’ve got to go get it checked out.” And then, a few weeks later, as the story goes, he gets it checked out, and they’re like, “We don’t know. Something’s weird. Let’s get an angio just to make sure.” And they go in there, and they find in three of the major vessels in his heart he has like 80 to 90% blockage.
That’s crazy. My dad was saying he was watching the screen, and they pump in this contrast, and you can see where the contrast is flowing, and it gets into his heart, and it just kind of stops. It doesn’t keep going. The heart pumps, but the contrast doesn’t move. That’s a problem. And so immediately they’re like, “We’ve got to get you in for a triple bypass surgery.” But you hear that as the son of your father, and you think, “What in the world is going on? God, what are you doing?” And you have that moment. And over and over again during this time, as we’re leading to this surgery, and we’re scared, and we’re praying, God gives us these great words of life and healing and hope.
It doesn’t make it easy. I want to start there. We read these words every Sunday, of life and faith and hope. It doesn’t make it easy, but we walk it out. And he goes in for surgery on Tuesday, and we feel the pressure and the fear and all that stuff, and we’re going about our day, and we’re praying, and people around the world are sending texts: “We’re praying for your dad.” Well, guess what, guys? The surgery was awesome, and he came home last night. Praise the Lord. Most of you know this story, but I don’t want to just run past it. I want to stop and acknowledge what God does in our life.
Yes, praise God for the amazing medical staff and the people who can do these incredible, mind-blowing, miraculous surgeries. Praise God for that. And praise God: in this instance, he was there every step of the way. And my dad is doing so much better now. It’s a long recovery, they always say, but man, is he doing awesome for where he’s at. And so often God just pours out blessing and provision in our life, and we are running so fast that we’re on to the next thing: “Yeah, but God, can you fix this now? How about this situation?” And one of the things we do on Sunday morning is we gather to give God the glory for what he’s done in our life. Not just the specifics, like my dad, but the absolute miracle of his death and resurrection. And the water of life, the river of life, is here this morning for you.
So let’s just slow down a little bit. It’s a busy world we live in. We had this African priest who has been joining us come to our clergy gathering at the men’s retreat, and Bishop Chris said, “What did you say about moving to California with your son?” And he said, “I learned that everyone here is very private and very busy.” That resonated with me. We don’t want anybody butting in on our stuff. God forbid your neighbor comes and knocks on your door: “What? I’m in my space, doing my thing. Get out of my way, because I’m busy.” All of this is absolutely backwards to the message of the gospel. All of your time is in his hands. So why are you rushing to do whatever you’re doing? He’s got it in his timing.
II. Jesus Ascended 04:36
So today I want to slow down a little bit and talk about the implications of what just happened in the liturgical calendar this week, because what happened is Jesus ascended. We celebrate the ascension of Jesus. We’ve been reading all these stories where he promised, even in the Gospel we read right now, he’s telling them, “I’m leaving, but don’t be worried.” And then they get to this hilltop, and he ascends.
Now, I forgot to pull up my favorite picture, where Jesus is like ice skating into the ascension. But we don’t know what that looked like. We don’t know what that was. All we know is that Jesus has ascended to the highest place, that he is sitting at the right hand of God in authority today. Everything has been put under his feet. So this happens, this great, momentous, glorious crowning achievement, where all authority is now Jesus’, and the whole new world can begin. And the disciples are standing there like, “Where did he go? What is happening?” And we’re told, in the Feast of the Ascension, that the angels came, and they’re like, “Why are you standing here? He’s not here. He gave you a job to do.”
All of that is the reality we live in every day: that Jesus has all authority, that we are just walking out the victory that has already been purchased by his blood, by his resurrection, and has been instantiated in his ascension. All of that in the context of reading the book of Revelation. That’s where I want to go this morning. We’re going to talk a little bit about the readings we’ve been having since Easter, in the book of Revelation. I got to preach the week after Easter, and what did I say? “We’re in a new world, guys.” We are in the new world today because of the resurrection. And even more so in the ascension, we see the true reality of Christ’s rulership, enthroned. That’s why he said, “It’s better if I leave you guys.”
He was walking with them. Okay, imagine you’re in a situation… Oftentimes at my job we have to unload very heavy material. So you could have a door that’s like 120 pounds, and you’re handing it off of this truck, and you’re trying not to scratch it, and you’re giving it to people, and it’s heavy, and you’re sweating. And no fewer than 10,000 times I have thought how cool it would be to have Superman there with me. You know, the guy with the panties and the cape, the whole thing. He’s standing there, and he just walks up to the doors, and he just puts his arms in, and he sets them down on the ground where they belong. Not to mention, he has super speed. So I’ve thought this out very clearly. It would not take long to do what we need to do if we had Superman on our side.
I say that to say the disciples are walking with the risen Christ, thinking, “We have Superman. He’s here with us. There’s not a demon who can come against him. There’s not a sickness he can’t heal. There’s not a funeral he went to where he didn’t raise the person from the dead. What is going to stop us now?” And he goes, “No, no, no, no. I’m leaving.” And they’re like, “Okay, that makes no sense.” Even after all this, they’re like, “I thought we were just instantiating you as the king of the world right now.” And he’s like, “You are, but not the way you think.”
Because what was the goal of all of this? The goal wasn’t for Jesus in the flesh to stand here and dictate to the world. No, the goal was for him to give us his authority, that all the world might rule and reign with him. I understand that that sounds crazy, because I don’t want him to rule the world, or her to rule the world. You guys aren’t good enough. He did it all to make us into the people who can rule and reign with him. So when he left, he didn’t leave us comfortless. Next week we get to talk about the Holy Spirit, who comes and empowers and shapes and transforms and makes us like him.
III. Revelation Is for Today 09:06
And all of that is what we’re talking about when we’re reading Revelation. People get really caught up on the book of Revelation, because they think it’s a prediction of the end times. And in some ways it is. It is talking about what happens when the whole world becomes the new heaven and the new earth, when every tear is wiped away. We haven’t fully realized the goodness of God in this moment. It is being worked out in our lives and in the reality of the universe and the cosmos. Everything will be good. I get that. But it is absolutely not a future prediction that we have to look out for. It is something that is being brought into our day, today, right now, for you, this moment.
IV. The River of the Water of Life 09:53
So I’m going to read through some of this, and we’re going to talk about some of what it means, and we’re going to talk about how it applies to the ascension. Because the ascension is the moment… Where does John see Jesus? He sees him ascended, sitting at the right hand of God. That’s a now, not a future. He sees that all authority is under his feet. And so when we look at this, in chapter 22, it starts with:
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Rev 22.1–2
Such a beautiful picture. It’s interesting: in Revelation, what we get a lot of is this symbolism that tries to show us the end, the totality, the ideal, the over-and-abundantly good. And words fail, so poetry will have to do. And so it’s this poetry about this crystal-clear water flowing. It’s the source of all life and goodness. And guess what? We participate in that today. We come to the table, and we drink from the water of life, from the cup. We eat the bread. We are sustained by God’s Spirit always.
And so when we look at this, what grows next to the water of life? A tree that bears fruit every month of the year. I don’t know if any of you have any trees. We have an orange tree. It does not do that. It would be nice if it did, but it does not. Trees have seasons. In this world, we are aspiring to more than we can provide now. And what’s being talked about with this tree is that by God’s Spirit, by the river of the water of life, in every season you’re in, God will bring forth fruit. That means in the lowest season of your life. Maybe you can think of a time when it felt like there was only darkness, there was only pain. Even in that season, God was working for your benefit. He was working to bring forth fruit.
What kinds of fruit? Well, there’s a great line that John the Baptist says: “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3.8). I love that line, because it means we actually have some responsibility in this equation. God brings the fruit, but you’ve got to turn. You’ve got to repent. You’ve got to turn to him. And I want to use that as a phrase not necessarily even in sin. Sometimes you’re just wrong. You’re mistaken. You think you’re supposed to be serving over here, and God’s like, “No, I want you to serve over here.” You’re doing great things, and God says, “No, I want you here.” So you repent. You turn towards what he’s doing. That’s being sourced by the water of life. That’s being directed by the river. That is how you become fruitful in every season. Every season you turn to Jesus. Sometimes you just bring him your anger, your grief, and your pain. He’ll bring fruit out of that. If he can transform the torturous death of Jesus on the cross, the wrongful, torturous death of God, into the beautiful fruit of our salvation, he can take whatever you bring him and bring forth fruit.
V. The Healing of the Nations 12:45
Furthermore, this leads us to why the leaves are the healing of the nations. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 it says:
14 if my people who are called by my name 2 Chron 7.14
What are we called? We’re called Christians, little Christs. We’re called by his name.
humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chron 7.14
This is so important, because we think our life’s about us. And we’re told, no, actually, we have a responsibility to the world: that if we turn to God, the whole world will be healed. I mean that very realistically; this is not just pie-in-the-sky talking. If each one of you turns to God, you’re a part of the healing of the world, because we’re supposed to join him in his mission, and that’s what he’s doing. So we turn from whatever we’re doing to what he wants, and we bear fruit in all seasons, and the leaves, the production, the thing that spreads out from us, will be the healing of the nations.
You think our nation needs some healing? I have close friends who post on Instagram, and I swear they’re living in a world I’ve never met, I’ve never seen. They post things that are so different from what I see. Does that mean they’re wrong and I’m right? No. It means we need to heal. We’re divided. We’re broken. We’re distracted. And we need healing. So we’ve got to turn to the Lord and repent and humble ourselves and pray for God’s healing in our land, because this is happening now. Does this sound like the future? No. This is a now invitation.
VI. No Longer Anything Accursed 15:16
Verse 3:
3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Rev 22.3–5
Why don’t we go back to verse 3 on the slide here. “No longer will there be anything accursed.” All of Revelation is talking about how God is recreating the world. And so he borrows the language from Genesis, the poetry from Genesis, about how God created the world, and he shows how Jesus’ work in his death, resurrection, and ascension is recreating the world. So, “No longer shall there be anything accursed.” Guess what was accursed? The fall. When we turned from God, we brought the curse into our life. And he goes, “No, no, no more. We don’t have to live in the curse of the fall.” Did you know today you in this room are being redeemed from the curse of the fall? You’re walking out the reversal of the curse. Instead of curses, we’re getting blessings. We’re reaping where we did not sow, by the power of God. We’re getting a benefit that Jesus bought for us on the cross. We are walking as new creation.
So he’s reversing this. He’s recreating. And why will nothing be accursed? Because the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. What was the fall? The fall was us turning from the authority of God, represented by the throne, to our own self-worship. So what reverses the curse? Submitting ourselves to the authority of God and worshiping him instead of our own desires. This is a turning that we’re going through. We’re going to get our source from the water of life, not our own efforts, our own desires. We’re going to turn to the authority of Christ, not our own opinions. How confident are we in our opinions nowadays? I mean, people post all the time: “Well, I think da da da da.” Let’s just think what God thinks, please. Let’s try to align, at least. I don’t think God cares whether you like chocolate chip or vanilla better, but he definitely cares about how you love one another. You don’t get to have an opinion about that.
VII. They Will See His Face 17:22
Verse 4: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” What happens after the fall? God comes. He invites them to look on his face, but they hide. They can’t look at him anymore. That’s reversed. No, in the new place, we get to see his face. And guess where you see his face? In each other. You have to be really in tune with the Spirit to see Jesus in some of us. Joking. But he tells us even more. He says, “You get to come to the kingdom because you fed me, you clothed me, and you gave me a drink.” And they say, “When did we do that?” And he says, “To the prisoner, the homeless person, the reject. When you did that to the least of these, you did it to me” (Matt 25.40). Okay, I know I’m blending some of these metaphors together. We do get to see Jesus in one another, but we also get to see Jesus face to face, and we look forward to that, and we get transformed by it. You get to know him. It’s not about, “Oh, I had this beatific vision, and I saw Jesus’ face, and he has a mole on his right cheek.” It’s not about that. It’s about: we get to know Jesus today in our life as we seek his face. And when you know him, you will be able to see him more and more.
“And his name will be on their foreheads.” Well, what happens in the fall? The canonical way that it works is the fall spreads out as Cain murders his brother and takes the mark of Cain on his forehead. We’re all children of that legacy until we accept Jesus, and then his name is on our forehead. You don’t get to separate yourselves from the legacy of evil in the world, but Jesus does that for you. He says, “Now your legacy, your ancestry, is in me. My name’s on your forehead.” It’s recreating.
“And night will be no more.” Well, God created night in creation. What does this mean? Why did God create night in creation? Why are we told? So they can rest from their labors. Well, when you ultimately enter the kingdom, he’s done all the work. You get to live in the day. The day rises. You’re no longer laboring. It’s only celebration and joy and goodness and abundance. Now, of course, this is poetry. This is poetry. I don’t know how many lumens will be in heaven, like physical measurements of light. That is not what we’re talking about. It’s a new day, and you never have to be afraid of the dark again. You’re walking in the light, and you will have all the rest you could ever need in Jesus.
And there’s that. And this is getting a little esoteric, but: “no light of lamp or sun.” The sun in the sky, so that we can see, is actually mediated light. God himself is the source of all illumination. I’m talking poetically here, but go with me for a second. He is the light of the world (John 8.12). The sun is a shadow of the reality to come. It’s not bright when it comes to Jesus. Do you see what I’m saying? I’m not really saying that God’s made of photons and he shines brighter than the sun. I’m saying that in the realm of reality, God is all our source, all our light, all of life. And the sun is a copy that he made, a beautiful thing. You know how plants eat sunlight, and then things eat the plants, and then we eat the things that eat the plants, and sometimes the plants. So the sun represents the source of all that is good. Now, in heaven, we don’t have to have a mediation, because God is just there, providing. We’re just directly encountering him.
I know I’m going off on this, but this is really what’s being said in Revelation. This is what he’s writing about. It’s not about, “Oh, well, the sun’s going to get dark, and when the sun gets dark, you can count the days until 144,000, and, you know, who knows?” It’s not a code. It’s a poem to help us see what God is. So all of this is recreation, in the new creation. We get God, 100%, face to face, without mediation. Praise the Lord. And when we see him, we will be like him (1 John 3.2). That’s the promise.
VIII. I Am Coming Soon 21:36
Okay, sorry. Verse 6. I’m not really sorry; I don’t know why I said that.
6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” Rev 22.6
Verse 7, there’s Jesus:
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Rev 22.7
This is where people get in trouble, because they’re like, “What does ‘soon’ mean? It’s been 2,000 years.” And it doesn’t just mean that God is so big that 2,000 years is like nothing to him. That is such a dumb explanation, in my opinion, because God created the world for us. He created time for us. He didn’t need time. He just is. He created all this for us. So it’s not like he’s tricking us: “I say soon, but if you knew how long time was, 2,000 years would be nothing.” No. What he means is, this is not about when Jesus finally comes again and the whole world is restored and completed. This is about now. John is writing this letter to churches who are undergoing persecution in the moment. And when he says Jesus is coming soon, he means Jesus is coming in the Eucharist. Jesus is coming in their life, in their expectations, in their moments.
On Tuesday, Jesus showed up, and my dad didn’t die. I give him the credit and the glory. All good things come from him. That doesn’t mean I don’t give the doctor credit. I’m just saying Jesus shows up in our lives over and over again. When it says he’s coming soon, that’s an expectation. It means every time you come to church on Sunday, you should be expecting to meet God here. And every time you’re up against the wall, you’re down and out, you don’t know what to do, you should be expecting God there, because he’s coming. It’s an act that he’s doing always. He’s always coming soon in our life.
And furthermore, why do I know this? Because he says, “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of this prophecy.” How do we keep the words of the prophecy? I thought it’s all about what he’s going to do. No, we’re encouraged, through this poem, through this prophecy, to get our life from him, to look to him, to come, to look to his face, to be transformed, to look to his ways and not our own, to serve and worship him. This is all prophecy so that we will be transformed, not so that we know the future. Like if you had a computer that could predict the next thousand years, and you could read all the stock markets and invest. That’s not the prophecy we’re talking about. We’re talking about the prophetic word that says: this is how, and who, and what, and why. This is all the things about God and what he’s doing on the earth. It explains what God’s doing now, and will continue to do, and eventually will complete.
IX. The Beginning and the End 24:59
Okay, a couple more verses here before we wrap up. We’re going to jump to… oh, I had one line about this. Jesus ascended. And so when we talk about him coming, we’re using a metaphor, because when he ascended, he is now everything everywhere all at once. Let me rephrase that: Jesus is everywhere all at once. He is not everything. Okay, we’re not pantheists. I said that wrong. But you remember that movie that came out? It was Everything Everywhere All at Once, and it was kind of exploding our worldview, because nobody knows what they believe anymore. Beautiful, wonderful movie. It’s art that challenges us, because we don’t even know what we believe. Well, I’ll tell you today what we believe: Jesus is everywhere all at once. And that means we always have the source of life with us, even in the darkest space. That’s what the ascension means. That’s why Revelation is being fulfilled today.
In verse 10 it says, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book.” He’s saying, “This is not a secret. Share this with everybody, so they can know who I am and what I’m doing. Don’t seal it up.” Hold on.
10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” Rev 22.10–11
That’s true today. The evildoers are still doing their thing, and the righteous are invited to continue to be righteous. One thing you can count on: the evildoers will still do their thing. One thing it’s harder to count on is whether the righteous are still going to be righteous. That’s up to us, to encourage one another to walk it out. And then Jesus says:
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Rev 22.12–13
That’s a powerful promise. No matter what happens in your life, your beginning and your end is Jesus. Meaning, to these churches at the time, they were asking questions like, “What do I do? What do I do? My friend Helena, her business was closed down, because nobody wanted to buy anything from a Christian, from a follower of the Way, and she doesn’t know how to feed her kids. And my other friend Lysander, he was martyred the other day. He was killed by lions. How do I believe in Jesus when I’m seeing the reality of the suffering in my life?” And John sends this letter, and they go, “Oh, because Lysander’s end is Jesus. Helena’s end is Jesus. He’s the beginning and the end. Everything can be found in him.” This is supposed to be encouraging to people living in the world right now, not some future, esoteric thing: “Yeah, Jesus is the beginning and the end, whatever that means.” No. He’s your beginning. He’s your end. He’s with you at every stage. No matter where you’re heading, you’re heading to him.
And the last thing I’ll say about this verse is, it says, “bringing my recompense with me.” And if you read the whole book, you might get this idea (and lots of people have it) that Jesus on earth, when he died for our sins, was pretending to be a servant who loved us, but then in Revelation he comes as the tyrant king to make sure that you did what you were supposed to do, or else you’re out of here. No, no, no, no. When he says, “bringing my recompense with me,” when it says the sword is coming out of his mouth, and he’s coming in to separate the good from the evil, he’s coming in to do all that. What’s the sword of God? What’s the sword of Jesus coming out of his mouth? It’s the word. It’s the truth. And what does the truth do? It reveals the evil and the good. It shows us this part. And in fact, in each one of us, that sword’s going to pass right through. None of us are free from the sword of Jesus that separates out the good from the evil.
Solzhenitsyn writes, “The line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” The evil’s not out there, with those wicked people that need to go to hell. The evil’s right in here, being conquered daily by Christ. Or occasionally we’ve got to go to confession to make sure it continues to be conquered better and better. The line is constantly moving. But when Jesus comes, it’s not so that he can just slam all those people who didn’t believe him. It’s so that he can make us like him, so he can redeem the world for himself. And yes, there will be people who, when they see the truth of Christ, will run to hell, because they’ve already rejected him. And that is such a tragedy. But it is not something to be afraid of. Jesus coming is the joy of our life. It’s the expectation. It’s our ever-present hope. And he will come the same way he came the first time: to serve, to heal, to restore, to make right.
X. Come, Lord Jesus 29:36
Okay, last. We’re at the end, in verse 17. And this is the end of the entire Bible. It’s pretty cool, guys. We’re doing that this morning. We get to hear about our end, and then next week we get to hear about the beginning of the church. In verse 17 it says:
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Rev 22.17
You’re hearing this morning: God says, “Come.” If you hear nothing else this morning of anything I said, hear this: Jesus wants you to come to him. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter if you’re happy or sad, mad or glad, whatever it is: come to Jesus this morning. That’s the invitation. But there’s another part of the invitation. It says, “And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’” That’s the economy of the kingdom. We come to Jesus, and we turn back and say, “Guys, come on. He’s right here.” We are saved from something and saved for something. We’re saved so that we can invite others to come to Jesus. And so the whole thing ends with this last couple of verses:
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Rev 22.20–21
“Maranatha”: “Come, Lord Jesus.” That’s what Maranatha means. That’s pretty encouraging. If you read the whole Bible, and somebody said somewhere in the middle, “How do you think this book ends?” you couldn’t have come up with better words than this: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.” He is coming soon. Come, Lord Jesus. It’s all good news. It’s all gospel. Amen.