Jump Start # 3793

Revelation 21:4 “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Our study at church of Revelation is nearing the end. Throughout this quarter, on both Sunday and Wednesday, we have marched through this book. There have been living creatures, a dragon, beast, locusts, false prophet, drunken harlot and signs and messages from Heaven.

The vision of judgment completed, the book ends with two glorious chapters about Heaven. One writer said this., “Chapters 21 and 22 are the most familiar part of the book of Revelation. In many people’s Bibles the early pages of Revelation are as clean as when the Bible was bought, but the last two chapters are worn from constant reading and perhaps stained with tears. Few pages have been read and quoted more than those chapters. None have comforted more hearts” (David Roper).

A new order of things. No more tears or mourning that leads to further tears. No sun. No sea. No temple. No devil. The message of victory, hope and faith live on through those final pages. The dark valleys have been crossed. The evil wickedness that has plagued the saints has been destroyed. Home, finally home, with the Lord.

Revelation 21 reveals two pictures: a glorious city with fellowship with God and a beautiful bride dressed for her wedding. The city is perfect. The city is beautiful. The city is comfort and security. The city is the home of God and now becomes the home of the righteous.

It is those resounding truths and promises that lifted the hearts of those early disciples that were beaten down by the oppressive Romans. Christ wins. Heaven is ours. God is awaiting us.

Aristides, an Athenian philosopher and general wrote a friend about Christianity, around A.D. 125. He was explaining why this new religion was so successful. His words, “If any righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another.”

What a strange twist this must have seemed. No gloom and doom. No despair. Rather, in joy, hope and song, they understood that the deceased Christian was home with God.

Some lessons for us:

First, far too many among us have a dread and a fear of death. Where is the hope? Where is the joy? When announcements are made about the passing of one of us, it’s like the air was sucked out of a room. Little rejoicing. Little singing. Little thankfulness to the Lord. Just tears and tears and tears.

Peter reminds us to live in such a way that people we ask about the hope that is in us. Maybe people no longer see any hope. Maybe all they see is that we act like everyone else.

Second, Christ came to not only conquer death but to take away the fear of it. Death is merely a door that allows us to leave this room for the next room. The door swings one way, but it remains a door. Why do we stare so long at the door? Why do we talk so much about the door? Why are we obsessed with the door? All that a person is lives on in the next room as they pass through the doorway.

Our language, our tone, our prayers reflect a fear about death that some have not yet conquered. At the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus said to the grieving sisters, “everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Or, might we dare to ask, “Do we believe this?”

Third, the story of Revelation is not peace on earth, but rather remaining faithful in spite of the turmoil, and overcoming so as to have that heavenly home. We want to find that “everyone lived happily ever after,” but that may not happen here, but it will over there.

New things are coming—God’s promised that. Better things are coming—God’s promised that. Above all, God promised to be among us. All will be ok, because God is here.

Roger