8-30-20 Grace - Tucson Sermon

Revelation 21:9-14, 21-26 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

Under the Sun Summer Worship Series Sunday, August 30, 2020 “We Won’t Need the Sun”

The very first lesson from Scripture that we used in our “Under the Sun” worship series started with the world in darkness, before the sun was even created. Those first few verses of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, describe how on the very first day of God’s creation week, he said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. God separated light from darkness, day from night. And then it wasn’t until the fourth day when God created the sun. He made a great light to govern the day, and he also created a lesser light, the moon, to govern the night.

Today, we end our summer worship series with the last verses of the Bible that speak about the sun. And actually, they tell us about a world without the sun. This one is not dark like the world was before light was created. This one is not empty. This world is full of the light of God’s glory and his grace. This is heaven, where we won’t need the sun.

Heaven is a perfect place of God’s promise. And not only does God make the promise, in the book of Revelation he allows us together with his Apostle John to have a glimpse of heaven itself. Whether this is review or this is new for you, understand that the book of Revelation tells us about a vision that God gave to John while John was in exile on the island of Patmos. He was exiled to the island because the governing authorities did not approve of his message about Jesus. And not only was John in exile, but many of the people with whom he had been sharing God’s Word were being persecuted. They were facing trials and dangers because they believed in Jesus. They believed the good news that John had been preaching.

So the vision that God shared with John offered great encouragement. It was encouraging for John, and he recorded what took place and what he saw in the vision so that he could also encourage others. This was a message of joy and comfort for the early Christians in their persecution, and it is a message of joy for us today. The main message is, in colorful visions and figurative language, over and over, that Jesus has won the victory over sin and death and hell. The message is that he will return in victory to proclaim a final judgment over the sinful world and to take his people to be with him forever in heaven.

And that joyful message is clearly on display in this particular portion of John’s vision on which we are focusing this morning. An angel whom John had already seen, one who was involved in showing a vision of plagues before this now turns John’s attention to something completely different. He says, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And from a high mountain, the angel shows John the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down. And the picture is glorious. It is radiant, clear, and precious. It is described in terms of precious gemstones that sparkle and shine.

The wife of the Lamb is the whole Holy Christian Church, pictured in this vision in splendor and glory. That Church is made up of all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior from sin, all who look to him in faith and trust in his promises. And this vision shows those promises fulfilled. We might remind ourselves now that the Church is present and active in this world, but it still faces the temptations and the threats of the sinful world. The members of this Holy Church still struggle against their own sinful natures. They still run up against the challenges of Satan. The Church in this world is in a fight. Theologians have called this the Church Militant, using the same root word that we use to describe those who fight wars, the military.

You are a part of this Church Militant. You know the struggles and trials. You see the reminders that things are far from perfect in this world, and you know the feeling of a guilty conscience accusing you. You know the feelings of regret and shame. God’s promise of heaven does away with all of it. Jesus died to take away sin. He has opened heaven to all who believe, and in heaven that Church of all believers becomes the Church Triumphant. There it dwells without sorrow or pain, without tears or sadness, without any trace of the sin that so damages and infects our lives right now. The Church is the bride of Christ, the Lamb, made clean in

his own blood, made ready for the wedding and the feast, made perfect to live in a perfect place of God’s promise.

Look again at the details that this vision shares. The city of Jerusalem is built with high walls and gates the bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is built upon twelve foundations with the names of the twelve apostles. And these details of the vision show us even more about the Holy Christian Church. It is made up of all believers throughout time, those who held firmly to God’s promises before, even long before, Jesus was born into the world and those who have lived since, their faith being built up by the message of God’s chosen apostles. And for all of them, eternal life in heaven is the final goal and the ultimate promise of God. He keeps that promise in front of our eyes and in our ears and on our hearts through his holy Word and through all who proclaim it to us.

Heaven is a perfect place of God’s promise, and it is also a perfect place of God’s presence. We have only hinted so far at the most wonderful aspect of heaven. The most amazing promise is that we will live there with God. In the Old Testament, God had his people build a tabernacle that could travel with them through the wilderness. They worshiped him and offered sacrifices there. The glory of God descended like a cloud on the tabernacle when it was first made, and the Israelites could always see that structure and be reminded that God was with them. In the Promised Land they built a permanent temple that served the same purposes. It represented God among his people and provided a place for worship and sacrifice.

Since that temple was destroyed, there has not been only a single place to look to for God’s presence. Jesus promised his disciples that where even two or three gathered in his name he would be with them. We often gather in larger numbers at a church building even though it is not essential that we have these external trappings. God is everywhere. His people can worship him anywhere. But we have buildings and altars as reminders, places we can look to consider God’s presence among us. We don’t see him directly, just as the tabernacle and temple worshipers were always kept outside of the holiest places.

Heaven is different. The new Jerusalem does not have a temple, and it doesn’t need one. It doesn’t require a place to represent the presence of God. Heaven is a perfect place of God’s presence. All who dwell there live in the light of the glory of God, the brilliant, radiant, bright shining glory. And this is the reason that heaven does not need a sun and the members of the Church Triumphant don’t need the sun. The glory of God has given it light.

This world has seen only brief glimpses of that glory. The glory of God was shrouded in cloud when it led God’s Old Testament people out of slavery in Egypt and toward the promised land. They saw some light of that glory at night when the pillar of cloud became a pillar of fire. The glory of the Lord shone all around the angels as they announced to lowly shepherds the Christmas message that a Savior had been born. On the mount of Transfiguration, the glory of God shone brightly through Jesus. And even these brief glimpses of God’s glory often brought fear and terror. These brief glimpses shone their bright light on the darkness of sin. They frightened sinners who knew they could not live in the presence of God’s glory and holiness.

But heaven is different. Sin is gone. Shame is gone. All that is left is the perfect holiness that God has given to us in Jesus, and so we will bask in the full and unveiled glory of God. We will live in the eternal light of his presence, like the sun never setting over the city. John’s vision reveals a place of safety and security, a place of joy and celebration. John’s vision reveals a perfect place of God’s presence.

We have looked throughout Scripture over these last twelve weeks for the lessons that we learn from the sun and from the events of this world’s history that involve the sun. But the promises of God last well beyond the sun. The lessons we learn teach us about this life, but they focus on the life to come. They look ahead to eternity. They teach us about heaven, a perfect place of God’s promises and a perfect place of God’s presence. He will take us to be with him there, and we will not need the sun.

The Text: Revelation 21:9–14, 21-26 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls that were filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me. He said, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

He carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God. Its radiance is similar to a very precious stone, like crystal-clear jasper.

10

It has a large, high wall. It has twelve gates. Twelve angels are at the gates, and twelve names are engraved on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13 Three gates are on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. 14 The city’s wall also has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the Lamb’s twelve apostles.

12

The twelve gates are twelve pearls. Each of the gates is made out of one pearl. And the street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God has given it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 There is no day when its gates will be shut, for there will be no night in that place. 26 They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

22