C, 5th Sunday of Easter - Revelation 21:1-7 "The Water of Life"
In these Easter days we look forward with hope and joy at the anticipated return of our Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. And we do this, celebrating the first coming of God’s one and only Son who has secured the end of all sin, suffering, chaos, and death.
The book of Revelation, reveals to us, the unseen reality happening around us right now, and has been happening every day since Christ declared in agony, “It is finished!” At the cross he bowed his head and gave up his life, and finished the work of redeeming creation from sin, suffering, chaos, and death.
Just as God rested after creating the heavens and the earth in the beginning; Jesus Christ, God the Son was taken from the cross to the grave and rested on the Sabbath. But unlike God the Father, the Son of the Father rested in death, he took the sin of humanity, the suffering of humanity, and the chaos these cause on creation and wore the full gamut of God’s judgement and wrath.
So Jesus bore the sin of humanity, the corruption of creation, and all the suffering on himself. He brought an end to the power of sin and death — over us and creation — then rose in victory at Easter, raising to life a new creation eternally gathered around him. We are a part of that hidden but very real creation now!
But here we are today, some two thousand years after the fact, it seems sin has not only survived, but thrives, even more so than in previous times. Problems still persist in our community and in our world’s communities. This seen creation still groans at the hands of humanity’s sin.
Right now the chaotic powers of water can be seen wreaking havoc on humanity. In some places — there is not enough water — communities stand on the brink of dehydration and desolation. In other places — there is too much water — taking the lives of many, causing chaos in epic proportions through floods and tsunamis.
There is truth in saying, “It’s hard in this creation to see the new heavens and the new earth born for us by Christ at the Easter resurrection — born in us at baptism”.
However, we as God’s children are called to see the hidden reality in which we now live. In fact, we are called to live by faith, to live by the saving gifts given by God alone; trusting in him and his word, over against the short-sighted faculties of yours and my easily misled human understanding, desires, or feelings.
As much as we hear Jesus’ words, “It is finished”, we must also hear in these very words that it’s all begun — for us, and in us. God’s intended resurrection for us has also begun, now that in victory Christ has finished the power of sin, death, and the devil.
What God revealed to John, and John wrote down, God is also revealing to you yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He says… “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:5-7)
God calls you to trust these words as true, “He is making all things new”. You and I are a work in progress, we are being made new. He says that those who overcome will inherit all that he is making new. So what is it we overcome? And how do we overcome it?
We are called to trust God’s action over against our own. He is making all things new! We make nothing new! The new creation, the New Jerusalem, comes down from God. We are called to believe it and receive it. He comes down to us, continually; we cannot climb up to God. In fact, we are to let God prepare us as a bride, to trust that he will dress us for Christ, who is the husband coming down to sweep us up in his arms. We are called to wear the clothes he has prepared for us; to make us fit to be in his presence, to make us a holy bride.
On the other hand, we’re told in Isaiah, our clothes are but filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) Therefore, we’re called to believe God is dressing us for eternity. And in believing, God overcomes disbelief and mistrust in him, and overcomes the faith we place in ourselves.
As we suffer in this life, it’s very tempting for us to think we can dress ourselves for success. But no matter how much we clothe ourselves for success, this success is never the holiness which God desires of us. We so often turn to the old creation for all the garb of success; we turn to the very things that are passing away. We turn to the things which lead us straight back into sin, suffering, and chaos. We make nothing new, only God makes all things new!
One thing quite relevant to us in these days is our ever-increasing suffering from drought. Yet here in Revelation, John writes down that when the old heavens and earth pass away there will no longer be any sea. It seems today the sea may as well not even be where it is. Evaporation from the ocean is meant to rise into clouds and bring refreshing rain to our land, yet where is the water, where is the rain? Chaos still seems to reign in this creation.
However, when the old is finally gone forever and there is no more sea, we will be called to know, all which is done has been done by the hand of God, that he is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. We will live by him who is now hidden. For God himself says, to him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Perhaps we, who have been covered by the waters of life in baptism, should hear God’s word, and be strengthened by the truth of this word. Perhaps God is calling us to believe in him who comes down to us, who is hidden behind the veil of faith, who is hidden in his word, who is hidden in the waters of baptism, and in the bread and wine of his body and blood. In fact, he is hidden in you too — hidden behind the veil of yours and my sinful humanity.
We do well to see the new creation Christ has made us to be. Despite whether our eyes are scorched by the reality of a parched dusty land or the waters of chaos threatening to cover our eyes in death. We live with the hidden reality of Jesus Christ, God the Son, who says, whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)
So with John, who recorded in Revelation what God allowed him to see, let us continually remember this reality for Jesus’ sake and our sake too… 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the
