A Wedding Homily Revelation 21:1-7 Wonder and Creativity and Compassion Check out these helpful resources Biblical Commentary Sermons Children's Sermons Hymn Lists Revelation 21:1-7 Wonder and Creativity and Compassion The Rev. Charles Hoffacker The story the Bible tells us presents God doing one new thing after another. Here are only a few examples. To [...]
If I awaken at the right time, I see the bright and morning star arise in the east. It isn't really a star, but the planet Venus. It dominates the eastern sky. While the stars are tiny specks of light, the morning star is like the landing light of a great airliner—a great megawatt lamp. Jesus says, "I am the... Bright and Morning Star." He is our great light.
In my childhood, I noticed something obvious about this Bible: It had a last page. Appropriately enough, this page was devoted to the concluding verses of the last book of the Bible, the Revelation to John. This led me to wonder: Did the fact of a final page mean that the Holy Spirit had fallen silent?
The context of the book of Revelation is the persecutions of the early 2nd century. The church was under fire because Christians refused to call Caesar "Lord." Many were being martyred as examples. New and grotesque ways were invented to punish these Jesus people. Christians were fed to wild beasts. They were set ablaze and used as torches.
It's a Catch-22: We need holy places in which to ground our faith; yet, if we're not careful, these holy places can stand in the way of our devotion to God. So, what's the answer? The answer is found in this passage of Revelation. When God's kingdom is fulfilled, there will be no holy places, only the holiness of God.
We can learn and re-learn that heaven is a community, healing, and vision. We can long for heaven in its fullness and enjoy the glimpses that appear to us now in moments of vision and healing and community. Then, when we come to the new Jerusalem, it will not seem like a strange and alien city, but will feel a lot like home.
Phyllis Tickle says that a near-death experience "irrevocably changes you. By the time you come back it is too real and too integrated into every fiber of your belief system. The end result is you simply aren't afraid anymore.... The experience clearly said to me, 'This is what it is like. This is what you are getting ready for. This is the homecoming.'"
King Solomon got it right when he said, "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint…" (Proverbs 29:18). What I'd like for us to think about in the sermon this morning is the flip side of the coin: "Where there is vision, there's hope." No one knew this better than John.
C.S. Lewis said, " If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.... Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you may not even get earth."
A little girl looked at the stars and said, "Dad, If the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what will the right side be?" Needlework has a front side and a back side, or a right side and a wrong side. The front side has a beautiful design. The back side, especially if stitched by an inexperienced needleworker, may have no pattern or beauty to it.