May 22, 2011
The Story 31
The End
There’s a program on Sunday evenings which I rarely get to watch, but when I have, and we’ve watched it as a family, we’ve all enjoyed it. It’s called Extreme Home Makeover. You know about that program don’t you?
Whenever I watch it, I’m struck at the human element, the plot of helping a family in need. The producers learn of a family who has been through a disaster, or who needs help, and at the same time it’s often a family who is trying to make a difference in the world, and in comes Ty Pennington and everyone is jumping up and down all excited about what’s about to happen.
Volunteers come in and tear down the old house and build a new one. The family doesn’t get to pick out anything. They learn about the family and design the house with them in mind. There’s one point in the show which really hits you. It’s when the family gets to see their new house for the very first time.
Now, between the family and their new house is that Extreme Makeover bus. The family is on one side of the bus and the house on the other side. The crowd and volunteers are chanting and you know what they’re saying, “Move that bus!” It’s remarkable to watch. If you’ve never seen it, take a look and see what happens.
VIDEO - Extreme Home Makeover
Wasn’t that great!! I can’t wait to see the same thing happen to you. When your heavenly Father unveils to you for the very first time, this place that right now He’s creating. I don’t know if there will be an angel shouting “move that cloud!” But the expression on your face, in that moment . . . every hassle, headache, heartache, you’ve had in life will melt away. It’s all going to be worth it.
This is the promise in the book of Revelation. The promise that in the end, God wins. It’s tough now, it’s hard now, there’s challenges now, it’s not fair now, there’s inequity now, there’s hunger now, there’s poverty now, there’s joblessness now, there’s loneliness now, there’s sin now. But in the end, God wins. That’s the promise of the book of Revelation. It’s also the promise from God.
That desire you have now deep within you, to see a house, to see a place, to see a place intended for you, that’s really going to happen.
Can you imagine how this promise must have encouraged the original readers and listeners of God’s word. John was encouraging the Christians of the first century. They were part of the church which was being heavily persecuted. These were the 7 pillar churches of Asia Minor and the Romans were trying to obliterate the church. The people who were reading these letters and stories from the apostles were living under intense persecution.
They knew first hand what it was like to be persecuted. They had witnessed crucifixions, beheadings, and saw loved ones put into the ring with wild animals; all because of their faith. They were always under the threat of persecution. John, the writer of this book, had been exiled to the island of Patmos. And it seemed like the devil was winning the war. It seemed like the dragon of Rome was winning, the monster coming out of the abyss was winning. It seemed like they were about to be defeated, but the big message from the book of Revelation is things are not what they seem.
It seemed like defeat and devastation were imminent, but that’s not the case. We’re barely into the book of Revelation and we realize Jesus is still here. In Revelation 1:8, Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
High above Rome and preceding and succeeding the cruel and vicious Roman rulers is and was Jesus. He is the preceding alpha and the succeeding omega. And we see how He conquers hades, how He conquers the dragon, how He conquers the beast, and He conquers the false prophet. He conquers all who promote evil. Jesus knows our name, He knows our pain, He’s right here in our midst. Listen to these remarkable words from John, later in chapter 1,
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, (John sees Jesus here, standing in the center of the lampstands) dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
Welcome to the book of Revelation. This is how the book of Revelation comes at us. It comes by way of images, in numbers, in symbols, in sounds. It comes fast and is always changing. It’s a fast paced book of hope, which is so easy to get lost in. A halo encircled throne, peals of thunder and lightening, there’s a 7 sealed scroll, bowls of incense, a harp, a quartet of fierce looking horses, the sun becomes sackcloth and moon takes on the color of blood, there’s locusts and earthquakes and destruction. There’s the ultimate battle, the final war, and we know the end of the story, God wins! God wins! And we see the new Jerusalem glistening and out of the heart of the new Jerusalem is a river flowing with abundant life, and there’s the tree of life. There’s one vision after another.
And more than once a person has read the book of Revelation and scratched their heads and wondered, what is this? What is this? Well let me tell what this is? Revelation is a book of pictures, a book of images. It’s more about images and metaphors than a how to technical manual. It speaks to the imagination more than to systematic thinking. If you like how to manuals, then Revelation will be hard to decipher. Because it’s not a construction book. Romans is the book for you. It’s a systematic unpacking of deep theology. When you come to Revelation, you need imagination. You need to let it carry you. We spend too much time trying to count the raindrops, instead of admiring the rainbow. We get into trouble when we try to dissect every detail and have it make perfect sense to us today.
Revelation is a book of flowing images that are above all cultures and generations. For example, the 7 lampstands. We can get that. What do lampstands do? They shine light. There’s 7 lights, for the 7 churches. And the number 7 appears 54 times in Revelation. And throughout scripture the number 7 represents completeness. So, the message here is that Jesus is in the midst of the completeness of His churches. Jesus is walking among them. He’s there, He knows what’s happening in each of the churches. He’s knew what was happening in Smyrna, in Laodecia, in Philadelphia, Ephesus, and even in Alexandria.
He’s walking around His church. He hasn’t abandoned and never will abandon His church. And he will always stay with His churches because God is and always will be on the throne. Here’s kind of what the punch line of Revelation might be. In Revelation 4:1-2, John says,
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven.
And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
John is given a glimpse of heaven and when he enters heaven the first thing he sees is the throne. And the big thing about the throne is not the size or the shape, or the beauty of it, but what? The fact that someone is what . . . someone is sitting on it. Someone’s on the throne.
You think Rome is running the world. God is on the throne. You think Washington is calling the shots, but God is on the throne. Right in the middle of the universe there’s a throne and God is running the world from the throne. And from that throne comes rumblings and lightening and peals of thunder and a voice that sounds like rushing waters. This is not a passive, sit back in His lazy-boy kind of God we’ve got. Is it? We have an active King.
And there are circles around the throne, the 24 elders, representing the old and new. The people of faith are gathered around the throne. The angels and the creatures are there. And they’re not looking and admiring heaven, but they’re looking at and worshiping God, the King. Because right at the center of all that there is, is the throne . . . and sitting upon that throne is who? God. And let me add for a little clarification, just encase you’re confused . . . you’re not on that throne, and you never will be, nor am I. And a big part of the Christian life is acknowledging and admitting that someone else is already on that throne, and this is why we call Jesus, our Lord. God is seated on the throne and what is at the center, God. And God should always be the source and center of our worship.
Just because God is at the center of the throne doesn’t mean there will be no problems in life. It’s just the opposite, as we continue to read in Revelation, we read about more and more problems and sufferings. We read about the 7 scrolls which are sealed, and the scroll represents the big story and message of God. Only Jesus can open up that scroll, it’s what Jesus came to do when He came here.
He came to unveil the story of God. When Jesus opened the scroll, there was great worship, and then there are plagues and problems and struggles, because the battle between God and satan continues until the end. And in the end, there’s the conquering Christ, always victorious, isn’t that amazing about Him. Even in death, He was victorious.
It’s a great picture on this final Sunday of the upper story and lower story. There’s great turmoil in the lower story, with plagues and problems; disease and death. But in the upper story, God is on the throne and the message of Christ the conqueror continues. He prevails over the moral calamities in chapter 8; the demonic forces of chapter 9, the dragon in chapter 12, the beast in chapter 13. And it should begin to dawn on us that God always wins. There are challenges, but God always wins.
Then we come to the climax, the big picture. It’s such an important paragraph which comes from Revelation 21. Listen to these words from John . . .
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 Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “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 the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, there is this desire we have, for God to move that bus. Right? Don’t you have that desire, that longing for that day to come. And this is the promise from the book of Revelation.
Yes, it’s a mysterious book, it’s a fiery book, yes, it’s a peculiar book. But, it’s a book jam packed with hope. Because in the end, there’s the new Jerusalem, and this new Jerusalem comes out of heaven and settles on earth. And it’s a huge city, the dimensions are simply immense. They are 1,400 miles in every dimension. 1400 miles high and wide and deep. Are they literal dimensions? I don’t think that matters, but what does matter is that there is room for everybody.
All you have to do is cry out to God, anybody who places their trust in Christ. God has a place for them. People from every nation and every generation will be with Him, to see the coming of the new Jerusalem. And in the end, God’s dream will come true. I do know and trust that when we see that place, we will understand every trouble, every sorrow, every hardship, every pain we’ve endured in this lifetime, and we will enter into a new world, a new order of things, that will last forever.
The only thing that remains to be asked is this . . . Will you be there? Will you be there? We occupy ourselves in this life, with so many lesser questions, don’t we? We can dedicate so many years and decades to smaller questions of career and retirement, marriage and children, which are all important questions; but can you believe people will pass through their entire lives and never resolve that one question about heaven and eternity.
The big question I want you to leave with is the answer to “Will you be there?” Will you be there? If there answer is yes, then fantastic, some day we’ll meet together, celebrate and party together! If your answer is I don’t know, then we need to talk. Better yet, you and God need to talk. And it’s an invitation God gives to you today.
Our journey through the Story was to make sure everyone had an opportunity to capture the big idea that God simply wants to be with us. He created the heavens and the earth so that he could create us, so that He could be with us. The Story tells us the extent God was and is willing to go through to get us back into a relationship with Him . . . the giving of His one and only Son, Jesus, the Christ. And He freely offers Jesus to every single person, no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been, no matter who you are, no matter . . . anything.
Regardless of what you’ve done, it’s a gift from God to you, if you will say yes to God. Then we are confident you will hear these words, “Move that bus.” And you will be welcomed to the place, that if you say yes to it, He is preparing for you, even as we speak. So, we’ve finished the Story, we’ve completed the journey, but we all know while we’ve finished the reading, the story is still unfolding in our lives, today, as God calls us to be the presence of Jesus to the city of Alexandria and beyond. Remember, the best is yet to come!
