Wipe Every Tear

Rev: 21:1-6

As I have worked through these passages in Revelation these past weeks, I have been surprised.  There was an element of trepidation felt as I approached this series.  The idea of reading the book is somewhat scary, the idea of spending sermon series in it was intimidating.  There is so much confusion and misunderstanding that can come from the pages of this one book.   I re-read a book on Revelation by Eugene Peterson (you the know the pastor who did the Message version of the Bible) which I had read when I was ENC which works to de-mystify the book.  I knew that I wanted to lean on his down to earth approach as to the angle from which I would approach the book. I knew the passages I would be working with, but I now that I am most the way through I find that I am still surprised by how amazing this book, is. The glory of the Almighty-One, the worship of the Lamb, the excitement of the resurrection to come, it is all so amazing, so surprising, and wonderful.  And the passage we have before us this morning is no different.

Like the passages we have studied thus far, there is so much going here. It begins with two visions; one of a new Heaven and a New Earth and one of the City of Jerusalem coming down from Heaven. It then is followed by several oracles, one given by a “loud voice,” and two which come from the One seated on the throne; a flurry of sight and sound, all full of vivid imagery to grasp.

It begins with a new Heaven and a New Earth.  I can hear the voice of Paul from 2 Corinthians, “Everything old has passed away; See, everything has become new (2 Cor 5:17).” Everything is made new, perfected, washed clean.  All that is broken is removed; sin and evil have been cast off, all things are new.  Heaven and Earth are as they should be. The creator re-created, renews creation in a way that makes it new again.

When my cell phone stopped charging, I took it to the Verizon store. I went fully expecting them to tell me that I needed new one. Instead, they told me that I could simply send my old one back to the company and they would send me a “new” one, just like my old one.  But it was not “new” per se, it was made new.  Someone else just like me, had sent in their phone and they had taken that phone, took out what was broken, put in new parts, made it new again and they would send that phone to me (they were gonna do the same to mine and send it off to someone else).  It was new, it worked like, everything that was wrong with it was fixed, it was made new.  Heaven and Earth will not be a brand new thing.  God is not scraping all of creation and making a new one.  God recycles, God is going to remove all that is broken and wrong with this world and renew it, make it new.  It will essentially be the same world, just better, made perfect; a new Heaven and a new Earth as they should be.

The second vision is that of the holy city of Jerusalem, coming down from Heaven, dressed like a bride.  The city of Jerusalem is the Church.  God’s Church, dressed for her wedding day.  We will be holy, made holy and made ready for our groom. The symbol of the wedding day, is a symbol of who we are in relation to Christ, we are a bride, new fresh clean, dressed in finery, our best. Christ loves us, cares for us and desires to be with us for all eternity.    

Two visions of how eternity will begin for us.  It will be a world made new.  The world will be as is should be, as it was intended to be, as it was originally created to be, without blemish, without sin, without evil without the brokenness that currently mars all of creation. It will also be like a wedding.  We will be the bride and Christ the groom.  The joy the excitement of a wedding day; the pleasure of the moment; the joy in the event; all that makes a wedding day good and beautiful wrapped up in an eternal moment of joy and happiness.  Our eternity will be that forever. 

But really that is not the exciting part, the exciting part comes next in the oracles.  When we see the great Sanctuary of Heaven , we see all things centered around God.  At the center of Heaven, at the center of the eternal sanctuary is the throne, where God is seated.  But the first oracle takes that center and moves it, it takes God and brings God to earth.  I cannot help but think of that old hymn, “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.” God will dwell among us, Emmanuel – God with US for all eternity.  We are not just a symbolically a bride, we are bride in that the groom will live with us, we will live together. I know that is not a new thought, I mean is that not what we look forward to when we think of living in Heaven, living with God.  But for some reason it is different when I think about God coming to live with us.  It not God scoping us up and taking us away to someplace else. It is God changing addresses.  It is God picking up and coming to where we are. God is not expecting us to move, God does the moving, God comes to dwell with us.  New heaven, new earth and a God who comes to live with us as groom lives with a bride.

The next oracle then tells us more; God will be our comfort and our protection.  God will personally wipe away our tears.  Not just a declaration, “there will be no tears.” But God moving and acting in loving, comforting, caring ways to remove the tears.  This is a loving, caring God, who will come to us in our pain, in our sorrow and will make the pain go away, will remove the sorrow, will wipe the tears dry.  God is a mother here.  We are a child, hurt, bruised, battered by life.  We look up with tear stained cheeks and god reaches down, pulls up into the divine lap, comforts us, speaks softly into our ear and with a kind, gentle finger wipes the tears from our faces.

Heaven is so much more than some distant, indescribable, unfathomable place where we spend eternity with a far off God.  No heaven comes down, earth is remade, all things are new, the old things, the pain, the hurt, the sorrow, the mourning are gone, they are removed when all things are made new. And God comes down and lives with us, dwells among us. Comes to each of us and does what needs to be done to make things right for us.

I am very much a communal salvation kind of thinker.  I think God came to save individuals, but I truly believe that God came to bring salvation to us, to redeem the world.  Not just individual lives, that is the level of the atom, that is where God begins, but in truth God came to save the world, to redeem creation, to make all things new.  You and me, US, the Church, this congregation as well as the Church universal, but through me, through you, through US, God is redeeming the world, the brokenness in each of us And the brokenness in our world.  God through us is redeeming the broken systems that surround us.  Our salvation is the beginning, but in us and through us God reaches out to make right the systemic wrongs in our city our culture, our country and our world.  We are called to be God’s elements of righteousness, of holiness, of change in our world. That is our call as Christians.

But this passage reminds me that it begins with you and me.  It begins with God reaching down and bringing comfort on a very personal level.  That my salvation is important, your salvation is important.  That God cares about the things that bring tears to my eyes. The promise of Heaven is that ALL things, all the big picture things, systemic things are made new, made right, but it is also so very much about my pain and your pain passing away. I know I matter and the comically small things in my life matter, but sometimes it is nice to hear God say so.

This is not just about the Comos being made new.  This is not just about creation being restored to the newness of Genesis.  This is not just about the Church universal being bright and beautiful like a blushing bride.  This is about the God of creation coming to you, to me.  Looking us in the eye and making things right, not just cosmically, not just universally, not just eternally, but making my things right, taking my pain, taking my darkness, the sin, the hurt, the pain, the sorrow in my life away.  Wiping my tears and then going and doing the same for you, and you, and you, each and everyone of us.  All things right is big, it is broad but this is personal, God will wipe YOUR tears, my tears, each of our tears. It is nice to remember that we as individuals, each one of us are important to eternity.  The oracle we hear in this passage,  tells us that my tears, your tears, matter and God will do what is necessary to make that right, to heal your brokenness, to relieve my pain. 

God will dwell with me, with you.  Our God is personal and present and very much with you and with me.  God will dwell among the peoples.  We will all be Gods people, all of us and God will be our God and we will be God’s children, God’s people. The Covenant of heaven is universal, but it is also very personal (intimate if you will).  It is OUR covenant with God, but it is a covenant God makes with you, with me. 

It is amazing to think, here in the middle of this book, which speaks of comic events, of things that are happening on a macro level, that gives us glimpses of events that happen beyond time, and outside of history; that hustle and the bustle of eternal events; all zero in on a face, that everything stops for a moment while the Eternal One reaches down and wipes away the tears of humans. It is really awesome to think that when Christ said, “It is done,” not only did he mean that salvation had come, not only did he mean that all creation is redeemed but he meant that all tears would be carefully and lovingly removed from each face; that God, in God’s infinite mercy would personally come sit down next to you, and next to me and be everything we need, do all the things that need to be done, say all the things we need to be said, to, make it right, to fix the wrongs, to heal the hurts, to bring comfort. 

Our God doesn’t just love us from a far, eternity is not impersonal, it is not being one among a crowd, it is not being lost in a multitude, it is being loved more personally and more intimately than we can ever imagine, it means that God is with us in a way that cannot be comprehended.  How can God be there for me and for you and you and you, and each person in all eternity, comforting, healing, making it right, but God will not with a wave of an impersonal magic wand, not with a grandiose declaration, but with a intimate act that will be just the healing I need, just the comfort you need.  Exactly what each of us needs.  Eternity will be personal, real intimacy, we will be a bride, loved and cared for, forsaking all others, to be there for me and me alone, BUT also for you and for you alone.  How amazing, how wonderful, is our God?  I cannot imagine how beautiful and fulfilling a heaven filled with personal attention from God will be but that is what we are seeing here.  Personal attention, side-by-side dwelling with God!