DAY 1:

Reading Time: 11 minutes

INTRODUCTION: 

What is the end of the biblical narrative?  What happens when Jesus returns?  How would you answer these questions if someone asked?  For many Christians, this is difficult to answer, yet the end of the story is a critical part in being able to discern our calling today.

 

This final session will explore the penultimate chapter of Scripture and draw profound implications for our work today from this vision of New Jerusalem.  How does the vision of eternity begin to change the way we live faithfully today?

 

Scripture:  Revelation 21

1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  2And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

 

5He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”  Also, he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  6And he said to me, “It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.  7The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.  8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

9Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.  12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed--13on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.  14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 

 

15And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates, and itswalls.  16The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width.  And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.  Its length and width and height are equal.  17He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.  18The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.  19The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel.  The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.  21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

 

22And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.  23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  24By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.  26They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.  27But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

 

 

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

 

1.      What are some of the most striking aspects of this vision of Christ’s return?

 

The Bride of Christ is a city.

When most people think of the biblical notion of the Bride of Christ, they think of the church—the redeemed people of God.  Notice in this climactic passage that the bride is not merely the church but actually the city of New Jerusalem, which includes both the people and the cultivated works of their hands.  This urban reality of the afterlife points to the reality that our future with God is not about some “tranquil, idyllic, one-on-one encounter in a sanctuary of eternal solitude, cloistered away from the hustling, bustling interaction with others that is so much a part of civic life on the old and apparently the new earth.”  It is seen as a “complex, other-connected and no doubt other-oriented relationship that brings with it all of the social and political ramifications that life in any city engenders. 

 

Believers will physically experience a “new creation.”

This New Jerusalem is a cultivated material world.  The texts describe, in detail, an actual physical place.  This is significant because it means that where we will spend eternity is not completely discontinuous from the world that we currently occupy.  Though Revelation 21 describes a “new” heaven and a “new” earth, it is more of a transformation of the “old.”  The Greek word being used here for “new”—kainos—encompasses some continuity, so when God claims that He will “make all things new” (Rev. 21:5), He means that He is taking what is old and transforming it.  In a similar way, the New Testament tells us that in Christ, we are a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15).  The new earth won’t just be a slightly restored version of our broken world, “but a transformation beyond imagining, a transformation so radical as to be a ‘new creation.’”

 

Even with the description of this vision, there is a great amount of confusion about heaven and the resurrection among Christians.  Many believe simply that when we die, our disembodied spirit will reside in heaven with God forever.  Though not entirely incorrect, this is, for the most part, a misinformed view.  We certainly will reside with God, but the Bible teaches us that after the final judgement, there will be a unification—a joining—of heaven and earth.  Therefore, our final destination—the place where we will enjoy God’s presence forever—is not technically in heaven as disembodied spiritual entities, but in a renewed creation as embodied, resurrected selves where we will continue to exist and act in a material reality.

 

2.      How does this passage address the importance of our work today?

 

Our current work has more meaning than we can imagine.

The work that we do here on earth is not in vain; it is deeply significant.  The glimpses of New Jerusalem in these texts give us good reason to believe that there is a real sense of continuity between this life and the next.  Because life in this new Holy City is similar to our present cultural patterns, including its material artifacts—which clearly resemble those here on earth—our work, and the things we build and create here and now, will echo into eternity.  The picture of a “city” by definition encapsulates not just the people, but also the work of their hands.

 

Though precisely how our work will echo into eternity is beyond our imagination, we are assured that “our marks are permanent.”  Richard Mouw explains it like this:

 

Human culture will someday be transformed, and we are

called to await the coming transformation.  But we should

wait actively, not passively.  We must seek the City which

is to come.  We can call human institutions to obedience

to the Creator.  When we invite the manufacturers of

weapons to devote themselves to making instruments

of peace, we are seeking the City in whose midst swords

will be beaten to plowshares.  When we propose programs

of racial justice, we are actively preparing for the day when

the new song to the Lamb will fill the earth.  And in a very

special and profound way, we prepare for life in the City

when we work actively to bring about healing and obedience

within the community of the people of God.

 

We will continue to work in the New Jerusalem.

The continuity between this life and the next means that there is a very good chance that we will work in heaven.  God has not stopped working—nor will He ever—and as creatures made in His image, we will also continue the work of dominion, service, and care for creation.  But as we’ve seen, our work will be done without toil or frustration.  Without the curse of sin, our labor will be completely satisfying.  Isaiah 65 says, “They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit” (v. 11).  It’s almost impossible to know for sure what our work will look like in the New Jerusalem, but what’s most important to note is that we will not be disembodied souls floating around in heaven for eternity; we will exist in resurrected bodies, continuing to rule and work as God originally intended.

 

Our work will be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem.

Looking back to Genesis, we remember that because of the fall, our work became toil.  Adam and Eve’s decision to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil brought about a curse that has stretched all the way to our modern workplaces.  This is seen in the fact that “everyone imagines accomplishing things, and everyone finds him—or herself largely incapable of producing them.”  But even though we experience frustration in our work today, and are rarely, if ever, able to complete every project we begin, we can rest in the assurance that our work will be fulfilled and completed in the New Jerusalem with God’s final victory over sin.

 

In Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller tells the tale of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle.”  In this short story, Tolkien describes Niggle, a perfectionist who was unable to finish his masterpiece—a painting of a tree—before his death.  Devastated by his unfinished work, he miraculously finds his completed painting in the afterlife, part of the reality in which he will enjoy forever.  Keller goes on to assure us that “there really is a tree;” “there is a future healed world” in which our work will come to ultimate fruition.

Isaiah 60 says that “Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself” (v. 20).  Similarly, Revelation 21 says that “’[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’  He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (v. 4-5).  In the New Jerusalem, where the shalom of God prevails, we will experience true justice, beauty, joy, community, and harmony, and our work will be filled with satisfaction and joy, free from sin, toil, frustration, and corruption.

 

God will redeem everything for His glory.

In Isaiah 60, goods of all kinds—precious metals, livestock, and the riches of the earth—are being brought into Jerusalem.  All of these “signs of pagan cultural strength or displays of alien power” and everything once associated with greed and human pride are now being brought into the City for a new purpose.

 

There are no limits to how God will transform and redeem even the most destructive and exploitative artifacts and put them to good use in the New Jerusalem.  This all makes sense if we remember that “the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it” (Ps. 24:1 NIV).

 

He will take those things we have perverted, that were originally intended for good, and reclaim them for His glory and service.

 

We will have all eternity to explore all that we were unable to do in this life because of the ramifications of sin.

We do not have to put all the weight of all our hopes and expectations on this lifetime.  So much of what can paralyze our ability to follow God’s call for our lives is our fear of missing out or making a decision that will make our lives turn out very differently than we hope.  However, knowing that our home awaits us with the return of Christ, we will have the rest of eternity to explore all the different sides of our personalities and interests in the sin-free context of New Jerusalem.  Whatever we surrender or sacrifice in this life will be returned to us a hundred times over in the age to come.  This good news allows us to be fully present in the moment so that we can be faithful with what God has placed in front of us.

 

3.      How does understanding the end of the redemptive narrative and the coming of New Jerusalem bring incredible hope and meaning to the work we do today?